From The Mind of Merc - ecigarettes

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about ecigarettes.

So it turns out ecigarettes may not be as good as was originally thought. To which I would like to say: No sh*t, Sherlock! So you’re not inhaling nicotine, tar and goodness knows what else into your lungs – you’re still inhaling chemicals into your lungs which could (and now seems potentially do) have major negative effects on your health.

The main issue here/cause of this misconceived view seems overall to be down to the fact that the view of or approach to ecigarettes has become twisted – the focus has been extolling or emphasising claims such as ‘they’re not as bad as cigarettes’. Yeah, and shooting yourself in the foot’s not as bad as shooting yourself in the head – you still get shot (and the former can still kill you).

Another favourite is ‘they can help you wean yourself of cigarettes’... by giving you currently unknown health defects as a result of the health risk that ecigarettes are increasingly found to represent.

By switching from cigarettes to ecigarettes you are not going from bad to good you are going from a known health risk to an unknown health risk – both cause harm, both poison your body, both will kill you.

As you may be able to tell, I am a vehement anti-smoker although I am also extremely pro-choice meaning I understand and respect that it’s your choice and I’m not going to tell you what to do – just mourn the impending pointless loss of life through societal ignorance.

Tbh, this is not uncommon - ecigarettes are just the latest in a centuries-long series of fads of supposedly marvellous or miraculous new products which have turned out to be deadly/harmful.

From ancient times, a popular beauty regime included using make-up containing large quantities of lead. Followers of this regime included Queen Elizabeth I - whose white lead-based face make-up ate into her face and is believed to have led to her eventual death – and Maria Gunning – an 18th century renowned beauty who died from lead poisoning aged 27. There’s also the small matter of the numerous boyfriends, husbands and partners who died from kissing the lead-covered faces of their amours.

Arsenic became increasingly popular during the Victorian era primarily for use either as a face powder or health supplement but it could also be found in wallpaper – which is believed to have led to the death of Napoleon Bonaparte – and even ladies dresses. Also laudanum, morphine and opium were regularly added to ‘health’ tonics – including those of children.

Following this, from the end of the 19^th century, asbestos became a fashionable fabric and could be found in building construction and decoration and also fireproof items and increased in use throughout the 20^th century despite its negative health effects being established as early as 1924.

My point is, just as with all the above, cigarettes used to be viewed as a health supplement, with even doctors advocating their use – now we know better. Yet we still choose to ignore any advice which contradicts our views on the ‘health benefits’ of something that will kill us!

The experts do not warn us of these things to be killjoys – they do it to SAVE YOUR LIFE so you ignore them literally at your peril.

Also, given the massive negative health impacts that passive smoking has shown to produce, you can’t help but wonder what the effects of passive ecigarette smoking are going to be proven to be in 50-60 years time.

Here’s an idea – how about we don’t wait to find out? Let’s prevent the need to find out. Let’s, in effect, prevent the opportunity to find out. Please – don’t risk your life or let your choices risk other people’s lives.