A Billion Lives

[DougP]

Have you guys seen this?
"A Billion Lives" is a documentary aimed at unveiling the truth about smoking (the title refers to more than 1 billion people who will die from smoking in the 21st century alone) and the invention of the e-cigarette.
"9 out of 10 people falsely believe nicotine is very harmful to their health, when in fact it is no more dangerous than the caffeine in a cup of coffee."
The doccie will be screened at the Jozi Film Festival on the 16th of September but you can watch the trailer below.
GRIPPING. What do you think?
http://abillionlives.com/you-are-being-lied-to/

 

[RichJB]

I'm trying to figure out what this film aims to achieve and nothing is coming to me. It is the ultimate case of preaching to the converted. Only vapers will watch it and the film will merely reinforce their perception that they are being victimised by the govt and big tobacco/big pharma.

If vaping wants to ensure its survival, it could start by showing that it has the capacity to do what it claims it seeks to do: save a billion lives. The majority of smokers, in both the developed and developing world, are from the no tertiary education/manual labour/poorer sector of society. When vaping first started, the average kit would use about 1-2ml of juice per day. That is affordable for a poorer smoker. Today's vaping gear has upped the juice consumption to an average of around 30ml per day. At commercial juice prices, that is around R150 per day, or the cost of 6x20 packs of cigarettes. Needless to say, that is so far beyond the poorer person's means that it is not even conceivable as an alternative to smoking cigarettes. In short, the vaping industry has priced itself right out of its stated mission of saving lives. It will only save the lives of the wealthiest smokers.

Governments aren't that worried about richer smokers because the wealthy have medical aids and can afford private healthcare. What worries governments is poorer smokers because when they get cancer, it's the government/tax-payer who has to pay for the treatment. If it comes down to a straight fight in which big tobacco and vaping are summoned before a government committee to present their business model and their plans to reduce public healthcare costs from smoking, big tobacco will win no contest. Big tobacco will present their cigalikes and their costing model, and they will show that even a poor smoker will be able to afford their e-cigs and the 1-2ml of juice per day that it requires. Then the vape industry will show the 300W triple-18650 mod with the TFV8 tank which consumes R150 of juice per day. And the govt committee will say "Yes, that is very nice and we are very impressed that you have been able to fill the whole room with clouds. But now how are our smoking voters, many of whom earn less than R3000 per month, going to afford this kit to save their lives?" And vaping will not have an answer. So the govt will rule in favour of big tobacco's cigalike products.

When I quit smoking, I used a big tobacco cigalike. And it was ridiculously cheap, a R50 10ml bottle of juice lasted me more than a week. It wasn't a good vape. But it did the job of satisfying my nicotine craving. That is all that govt is worried about. Being able to chuck monster clouds is, for govt and in public health terms, a non-issue. Has the vaping industry thought about this? Do they have a plan in place to counter it? Do they have an alternative business model to big tobacco's model? If not, wouldn't working on such a model be a more productive use of resources than making documentaries which allege victimisation and oppression?

Government does not care that big tobacco and big pharma are using long-established capitalist practices to squeeze vaping out of the market and dominate market share for themselves. Govt is only concerned about which sector is offering the most cost-effective and viable alternative to smoking. As things stand, that is big tobacco and big pharma vying for the lead with vaping in third place. The financial models don't lie: vaping with mods&tanks is the least affordable way to quit smoking. That is the bottom line. What is vaping going to do about it?

 

[SAVaper]

@RichJB Very interesting take on this......

 

[Silver]

@RichJB

I hear you loud and clear and you do make very valid points about the "lunatic fringe" enthusiastic sector of the vaping market.

But consider that vaping companies such as Twisp and even many of the vendors on this forum sell bucket loads of starter gear to smokers wanting a relatively cost effective solution to quit.

Also, consider that my little Evod (at R80) runs rings around the cigalikes and also only goes through about 2ml-3ml per day if I were to vape it exclusively. Of course that is with 18mg juice and a healthy dose of extra menthol drops.

I think us enthusiastic vapers form a very small portion of the total vaping market.

Regarding the documentary, I hear you when you say why make a doccie to preach to the converted. However, I do think that a film of this nature will probably get a lot of publicity and likely shape some of the thinking on this whole matter. I dont think the film necessarily represents the sum total of vaping's approach to help fight against regulation etc. I look forward to seeing this film and will reserve judgement till Ive seen it.

In any event, I think vaping is probably better off with this film than without it. (Even though I havent seen it yet)

 

[RichJB]

The way I look at it is this - we have numerous different role players in this issue:

1) The vaping industry, big tobacco, big pharma: they all provide alternatives to smoking, each of them wants to win market share and have smokers quit using their products
2) Anti-smoking groups: they hate smoking, they hate vaping, they want to ban everything where people breathe in or breathe out anything that isn't fresh air
3) Society in general: they are not as mal about it as the anti-smoking groups but they don't really care either. They don't mind people smoking/vaping but as long as it doesn't happen close to them, they don't mind. They don't care whether it's cigalikes, patches or vaping that wins market share. They don't use any of these products so it doesn't interest them.
4) Government: they're in the middle and listen to everybody whining, then they have to decide some sort of middle line that is going to be accepted.

In smoking terms, govt's position is pretty clear. They want people to stop. They don't care about vape quality or capitalist dirty tricks to win market share or whatever. They want a solution that they can take to smokers and say "Here, use this to help yourself stop smoking." And they will support (or rule in favour of if it comes to a direct conflict) whichever sector can provide that smoking cessation aid. As I see it, the three competing sectors have pros and cons as follows:

1) Big tobacco cigalikes
Pros: cheap, don't use much power or juice, widely available, is quite similar to the smoking experience
Cons: poor vape quality, requires electricity (which users may not have at home), requires some technical sophistication, exchanges one habit (smoking) with another (electronic smoking)

2) Big pharma patches, gum
Pros: doesn't require electricity or sophistication, relatively cheap, doesn't lead to lifelong addiction, costs are limited to a 3-6 month period
Cons: not at all like smoking

3) Vaping as we know it - mods and tanks
Pros: the closest experience to smoking, satisfying vape
Cons: expensive, requires electricity/sophistication (especially for rebuilding and juice DIY), replaces one habit (smoking) with another (vaping)

If I was in government's position, I would place vaping's smoking cessation solution in third place. As nice as it might be for vapers, it's just too costly and sophisticated for me to market to, say, black mineworkers. If I was Minister of Health and Jacob Zuma gave me R100m of fiscus money and said "Invest this in a smoking cessation technology that will give us bang for buck and wean as many smokers as possible off cigarettes", I would really struggle to justify why I didn't give it to big tobacco. Looking at it purely objectively, cigalikes seem to me to be the best overall solution that marries economics with effectiveness. I used a cigalike to quit and it was great. It did what it needed to do. If saving my life is the only concern (and it is govt's only concern, they are not concerned with things like vape quality), the cigalike does the job.

@Silver, I hear you about things like the EVOD. But now we must ask, is the EVOD more reflective of vaping's current development trend or vaping's previous development trend? Is vaping, as a whole, more concerned now with more power/more juice consumption or less power/less juice consumption? To me, it seems like more is the answer. That gives the impression that vaping isn't really serious about saving a billion lives. It doesn't care that much about poorer smokers. That impression might be wrong but I think it's the impression that govt is going to get.

It's frustrating to see the opportunities that vaping is letting slip. As I noted earlier, a large percentage of the world's smokers are among the poorest. So we have huge numbers of, for example, African or Asian farm labourers who are smokers. They don't have electricity at home, so a powered device is out of the question. Has anybody investigated a solar-powered device? If a MTL vape on a cigalike only requires 10W or so, surely solar is viable?

It's not something I've studied in depth, but my perception is that the vaping industry isn't really concerned with bringing vaping to the masses. They want privileged mall rat kids to buy their gear and chuck clouds in vaping comps. But they don't care a whole lot about the poorer developing world smokers. If they did some R&D and some PR in this regard, I think governments might be inclined to look a lot more favourably upon vaping. Big tobacco will do it. They have decades of dealing with hostile governments, they know how to sell themselves and position themselves as doing the right thing. Vaping should learn from that and follow suit. Whining to govt that big tobacco/pharma is being mean to us isn't going to achieve much imo.

 

[Effjh]

The film itself is great from what I have heard, but it will need the same level of fame as docu's like Supersize Me for the general public to be aware of it. Smokers need to see it, not vapers. This needs to be all over Youtube and on TV.. not in a movie theater and behind a pay wall.

 

[Clouds4Days]

I see vaping as a car (i refer most things to cars , dont know why maybe cause im a petrolhead )

Mark drives a old mini (evod) he would really like a new mini cooper s (rx200s) but unfortunately he cant afford it so he will have to carry on driving his old mini for the mean time.

Matthew his friend on the other hand is loaded and drives a mercedes slr (rolo dna200)

You get diffrent types of cars (vaping kits) just because mark cant afford his new car (mod) doesnt mean he doesnt have a alternative mode of transport, his old mini.

Conclusion

Vaping can be expensive but it can be cheap the choice and budget is yours.
Doesnt matter if you vape on a twisp or aio or a dna they all regarded as vaping.

Same way doesnt matter if you drive a daihutsu, kia or lamborghini they are all a mode of transport.

(Just one you look cool driving and the other you might wanna wear a mask so no one sees you before any one gets affended i drive a kia myself )

 

[Silver]

I hear you @RichJB and like your analysis!

I think that vaping is still very small and a lot will change and develop over time.

If one looks at the cellular industry, the earlier years saw mobile phones being used by only a privileged few. Nowadays phones are affordable to all and even smartphones branded by the operators are cheap. Also, airtime has has come down in nominal terms and has dropped significantly in real terms. Data prices have reduced significantly over the last few years.

Vaping is still in its infancy. Lets see how it develops. Who knows i may get a cigalike with a dripper quality vape for under R200 one day...

 

[RichJB]

Who knows i may get a cigalike with a dripper quality vape for under R200 one day...

Now you are talking, boet. A hundred bucks for an H-Priv, fifty bucks for a TFV8, thirty bucks for a married pair of chocs. I am smaaking that a lot. Smok needs to put @Silver in charge of R&D like yesterday. Oh, and five bucks for DIY flavours too. Yes, Flavour Art, I'm looking at you.

I'm excited by where vaping can go. Let's just take something simple like wicking. You know, cutting a strip of cotton, rolling one end, poking it through a wire coil, trimming the edges, stuffing it down into a channel with tweezers. Are we in 2016 here? It sounds more like 1976 to me. The solution is out there. The Americans have NASA-like mesh that wicks like a dream. All that needs to happen is that we must persuade Spydro to commit treason by smuggling it out to us. If the plan gets rumbled, it will be Spydro who gets waterboarded by the CIA, not us. Really, I cannot see a downside. I think we should go for it. Progress demands it.

 

[Adephi]

Going to revive this thread from the ashes of our deepest basement.

Just finished watching this documentary. And its very interesting considering our government is basically where they where at the time of the making of this.

Wont say its just for vapers, but its a very good tool to spread the word.

 

[vicTor]

... life's what you make it