The lack of information is alarming.
Only 1 in 20 Americans (5.3%) understand that using e-cigarette products is less harmful than using tobacco products. That shocking number was collected in 2015 data from the National Cancer Institute’s Health Trends Information Survey (HINTS).
Also alarming is that 37.5 per cent thought e-cigarettes were as bad, or worse, or much worse than regular cigarettes. 33.9 per cent honestly said they didn’t know enough to answer this question. In fact, the majority of people who don’t know or understand are, as we know, Public Health England and the Royal College of Physicians have estimated that the risk of e-cigarettes is only 5 per cent of that of smoking.
The question in this survey was, “compared to regular cigarettes, would you say e-cigarettes are…” and given seven options: much less harmful, less harmful, about the same, more harmful, much more harmful, and I have never heard of e-cigarettes, I know nothing about these products.
The situation is getting worse.
In 2013, 9.8% of respondents thought e-cigarettes were much less harmful than cigarettes. In two years, that number has dropped by half, which isn’t a huge number. Since 2013, the number of people who believe e-cigarettes are more harmful than regular cigarettes has increased by about 20%.
In 2015, only 25.9% of Americans believed that e-cigarettes were less harmful or much less harmful than regular cigarettes, down from 39.8% in 2013. The survey took a representative sample and then estimated the remaining percentages for the entire population.
Poisoning information sources
The campaign to paint e-cigarettes as just as worrisome as regular cigarettes has been a resounding success. Between the cautionary rhetoric (“We don’t know enough”) and the health scares (formaldehyde, popcorn lung), the zealots are winning the information war. They can’t stand the idea of something like a cigarette being presented as the solution to their smoking problem, and they’re willing to poison the media to keep a habit they’ve grown comfortable with.
Meanwhile, the public remains ignorant of the truth, and smokers continue to fall ill and die from their habit.
Source: Vaping360
Author: Jim McDonald
Translator: The Vape Club
