Cole-Bishop fails to pass

[RichJB]

http://vaping.org/press-release/dem...ing-cole-bishop-amendment-killed-budget-deal/

It's not the end of the road. Conley hopes that Trump will intervene, and there is still Duncan Hunter's proposal to amend the Tobacco Control Act. But I can't see either of those two initiatives having a different outcome from Cole-Bishop. Although I do believe that ultimately the deeming regs will be softened and will allow vaping to continue.

 

[Rob Fisher]

Not cool.

 

[RichJB]

I don't know how the vaping industry will proceed from this. But it's clear that the current strategies are tanking. Those strategies being:

1) Mobilise vapers. It's a tiny voting bloc, only nine million vapers in the US. So Conley's warning that Dems will receive payback in the 2018 mid-term elections comes across as an empty threat. There are an awful lot more voters who are opposed to nicotine in all forms than there are vapers. So the Dems are playing it by the numbers.

2) Distance ourselves from Big Tobacco. Vaping is seen by the general non-smoking public as Big Tobacco MkII, a way for tobacco companies to keep people hooked on nicotine even when cigarettes have been comprehensively discredited. Vaping trying to claim "but we're not Big Tobacco!" is never going to fly. Our gear uses the same vaporiser technology as Big Tobacco's next-gen cigalikes, and most of the pro-vaping research is being funded by Big Tobacco. They are one and the same thing in the eyes of the public. So we're in bed with Big Tobacco whether we like it or not. We draw our distinction between those who smoke and those who vape. The general public draw their distinction between those who are hooked on nicotine and those who aren't.

3) Rely on Trump. This was always wishful thinking imo. Donald Trump idolises money and uses it as a benchmark of an individual or entity's intelligence and moral character. Big Pharma and Big Tobacco have oil tankers full of money, vaping can scrape together twenty bucks if everybody contributes. It is a no-brainer which of the three sectors Trump isn't going to side with. The belief that Trump cares passionately about vaping and will do anything to save it is equally wishful thinking. He has a lot of problems on his plate at the moment, he couldn't even get funding for his wall in the omnibus package. He is not going to expend what little political capital he has on protecting vaping. It's not even on his radar.

4) Allege sinister media and other conspiracies that aim to discredit vaping. Even if it was true, it has no traction. The 9/11 conspiracies gained traction because the perception was that the American public had been put in danger by an oil-greedy President and his inner circle. So the masses were imperiled by the conspiracy of the few. In vaping, the masses are unaffected. If vaping is banned, 90% of people just shrug as it doesn't affect them. Among the general public, the pharmaceutical sector has a much better image than either vaping or tobacco. So the vaping industry's complaints that it is being undermined by Big Pharma will fall on deaf ears. Most of the public are on Big Pharma's side. Vaping being undermined by pharma would be a good thing in their view. There is social stigma attached to teen mall rats chucking clouds in public places. There is no social stigma attached to wearing a patch or chewing nicotine gum. We are losing the public image battle comprehensively.

I think the only viable approach is to keep putting medical heavy hitters like Delon Human, Derek Yach and Dr Farsalinos in the spotlight. Unfortunately they have a low-key style that is never going to take off in the media. Science will always come second to sensationalism. The good doctors might speak the truth but they are never going to generate a lot of clicks. Still, they're the best resource we have at the moment. Getting them to shape the public perception of vaping, rather than associations with Big Tobacco or cloud-chucking mall rats, is the challenge.

 

[Spydro]

https://vaping.com/blog/science/col...ail&utm_term=0_22416810d6-032bfd9310-51253929

 

[RichJB]

Thanks @Spydro, that is an interesting take and one with which I largely agree. Although I consider this to be wishful thinking:

Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, was fired two weeks ago, leading numerous commenters to suggest that this was in respect of his Report on E-cigarettes;

The only journalists I've seen attributing any significance to Murthy's vaping report are those in the vaping media and industry. No mainstream news outlet even mentioned the vaping report as a factor in Murthy's dismissal. Almost all of the mainstream news outlets, such as this Washington Post article and this Huffington Post piece, focused on Murthy's support for gun control as the primary reason for his dismissal. Gun control is not a popular agenda for Trump or for the GOP as a whole.

I'm also not sure I agree with this:

It angers me that vape so neatly follows party lines in America.

This was written by a Brit but vaping is also politicised in the UK. When Tory Lord Callanan proposed to hold a House of Lords vote to kill the EU's TPD regulations and exempt the UK from applying them, the motion was killed before it even got to the vote by all of the Labour and Lib Dem Lords telling Callanan up front that they would oppose his motion.

On June 9, Lord Callanan announced that he would be dropping the motion, saying “despite the valiant efforts of many in the vaping community, there was no chance of Labour and/or the Lib Dems supporting my motion. I therefore consulted some of my parliamentary backers and they all agreed that there was no point in pursuing the debate next week when we were certain to lose, probably overwhelmingly.”

So it is just as politicised in the UK. Politicians generally represent public opinion and public opinion is like a 100-ton dinosaur. It takes lots of energy and shoving and puffing to get it to start moving. But once it does, it's almost impossible to stop it. It took decades of warnings by doctors and public awareness campaigns to sway public opinion against smoking. But once it got up and running, the momentum makes it almost impossible to stop. Nicotine is evil and smoking in any form kills. The End. That is the public view and it's going to take decades to shift it.

 

[Silver]

I like reading your comments on this @RichJB
Thanks

 

[kev mac]

I don't know how the vaping industry will proceed from this. But it's clear that the current strategies are tanking. Those strategies being:

1) Mobilise vapers. It's a tiny voting bloc, only nine million vapers in the US. So Conley's warning that Dems will receive payback in the 2018 mid-term elections comes across as an empty threat. There are an awful lot more voters who are opposed to nicotine in all forms than there are vapers. So the Dems are playing it by the numbers.

2) Distance ourselves from Big Tobacco. Vaping is seen by the general non-smoking public as Big Tobacco MkII, a way for tobacco companies to keep people hooked on nicotine even when cigarettes have been comprehensively discredited. Vaping trying to claim "but we're not Big Tobacco!" is never going to fly. Our gear uses the same vaporiser technology as Big Tobacco's next-gen cigalikes, and most of the pro-vaping research is being funded by Big Tobacco. They are one and the same thing in the eyes of the public. So we're in bed with Big Tobacco whether we like it or not. We draw our distinction between those who smoke and those who vape. The general public draw their distinction between those who are hooked on nicotine and those who aren't.

3) Rely on Trump. This was always wishful thinking imo. Donald Trump idolises money and uses it as a benchmark of an individual or entity's intelligence and moral character. Big Pharma and Big Tobacco have oil tankers full of money, vaping can scrape together twenty bucks if everybody contributes. It is a no-brainer which of the three sectors Trump isn't going to side with. The belief that Trump cares passionately about vaping and will do anything to save it is equally wishful thinking. He has a lot of problems on his plate at the moment, he couldn't even get funding for his wall in the omnibus package. He is not going to expend what little political capital he has on protecting vaping. It's not even on his radar.

4) Allege sinister media and other conspiracies that aim to discredit vaping. Even if it was true, it has no traction. The 9/11 conspiracies gained traction because the perception was that the American public had been put in danger by an oil-greedy President and his inner circle. So the masses were imperiled by the conspiracy of the few. In vaping, the masses are unaffected. If vaping is banned, 90% of people just shrug as it doesn't affect them. Among the general public, the pharmaceutical sector has a much better image than either vaping or tobacco. So the vaping industry's complaints that it is being undermined by Big Pharma will fall on deaf ears. Most of the public are on Big Pharma's side. Vaping being undermined by pharma would be a good thing in their view. There is social stigma attached to teen mall rats chucking clouds in public places. There is no social stigma attached to wearing a patch or chewing nicotine gum. We are losing the public image battle comprehensively.

I think the only viable approach is to keep putting medical heavy hitters like Delon Human, Derek Yach and Dr Farsalinos in the spotlight. Unfortunately they have a low-key style that is never going to take off in the media. Science will always come second to sensationalism. The good doctors might speak the truth but they are never going to generate a lot of clicks. Still, they're the best resource we have at the moment. Getting them to shape the public perception of vaping, rather than associations with Big Tobacco or cloud-chucking mall rats, is the challenge.

Your observations are spot on sad to say. I belong to the popular vape advocacies and follow the calls to action calling and writing my Representatives but as you astutely pointed out we don't pack the weight.Maybe the Donald will pull a Hail Mary to help in a business sense but as long as lobbying calls the shots in politics we may be screwed.