kristinnm

Maybe if the government and public health groups would stop lying to the public about smokeless alternatives, more smokers would make the switch. Smokeless alternatives, such as snus and e-cigarettes, are scientifically proven to be 98-99% safer than smoking and don't harm bystanders. Yet the powers-that-be insist on making smokeless alternatives appear as bad as smoking, causing smokers to believe there is no benefit in switching. Brandi is right - if you've been alive in the past 30 years, you know the dangers of smoking - yet people still find the need to do it. Usually, it's the benefits they get from nicotine and ritual habit. Public health groups and the government seem to be doing everything possible to keep deadly cigarettes as the only effective source of these things and ban all of the safer options. What sense does that make - unless you consider the cigarette tax revenues and the FDA's relationship to Big Tobacco and Big Pharma? There will always be those who use nicotine and find comfort in the habit. Nicotine use, absent the smoke, is no greater danger than caffeine use. But they won't tell you that. It's time to go back to the roots of the anti-smoking movement and fight the real danger - smoking - not less harmful smokeless alternatives. Tobacco with a 1-2% health risk is NOT the enemy. Promote it to dedicated smokers and it's a win-win for everyone. By moving to an anti-tobacco stance instead of the anti-smoking stance, they are stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that there ARE much safer tobacco products that would solve a lot of the issues found with smoking. In doing so, they continue to keep the public in harm's way and make no progress in the war against smoking. In the absence of a complete ban on cigarettes, if the government and public health groups really wanted to make a difference, they would reveal to smokers that smokeless alternatives have little or no significant health risks and encourage their use. That would not only improve the health of current smokers, it would reduce the number of new smokers and all but eliminate the dangers of second hand smoke. But there is too much tax revenue and profit in keeping cigarettes legal and eliminating any competition. Very scary.