Well, I thought it was only a matter of time before big tobacco came up with a product which would compete with the e cigarette. When consumers can purchase a product which is cheaper, healthier, and more affordable than tobacco you can be sure the companies who knowingly manufactured and sold a deadly product for decades would want in one the action. So British American Tobacco have bought the rights allowing them to sell a product which is supposedly going to be the first safe cigarette, evidently the electronic cigarette independent companies are seeing these days don’t count.
This “Safe” cigarette is neither a traditional tobacco smoke or a regular electronic cigarette, but seems to be some sort of hybrid. Industry spokesmen claim that it’s going to be much more satisfying than the e cigarette but will a lower health risk than tobacco.
David O’Reilly, a spokesman for BAT, said “There is political support for this. In our view, e-cigarettes do not work. People should be able to use nicotine, but in the safest possible way.” To be honest, reading that statement made me want to find the man and punch him on the nose…haha
“People should be able to use nicotine, but in the safest possible way.”….really? A company that has knowing sold death laced with one of the most addictive drugs known to man for generations now thinks that we all have a right to a safe nicotine inhalation? Only if there is a colossal amount of money in it for them I guess.
Do you think the only reason this product is even being considered is because electronic cigarettes are becoming more popular every day? These companies probably see a future where people in the west no longer need to use their death sticks thanks to the every increasing quality of the e cigs available. They never seemed desperate to introduce a safe way to get nicotine when they didn’t have any real competition on the market. After all, we all know how ineffective regular nicotine replacement therapy is. I’m not sure I’ve ever met someone who has successfully used them to stop smoking cigarettes over the long term. E Cigarettes on the other hand are a completely different kettle of fish and look to have potential in allowing those addicted to nicotine to cut out the burning tobacco leaf.
The product they are hoping to have on the market in a couple of years was developed by a company called Kind Consumer in the UK and uses an aerosol to deliver nicotine to the consumer. With the money the tobacco companies have available to them there is a real chance they will be able to get this cigarette regulated. If that happens, and it does indeed turn out to be safe, will that be the beginning of the end for the electronic cigarette?
I have to admit that I’m quite intrigued by the idea of this new nicotine delivery product, but I’m disgusted that it’s going to be another money making vehicle for the companies that have been knowingly killing us since the 1950′s. I’m loathed to give them any more of my cash, and hopefully by the time it reaches the market e cigarettes will be so good that I won’t be interested in it anyway.
Read more about the story at the Daily Mail and the Financial Times.
4 Comments
This story sort of intrigues, but mostly terrifies me. So tobacco companies are getting in the reduced harm game, but they are backing a different horse in the race. Granted this is in the UK, so who knows how this will play out with the FDA, but, if they actually throw down the dough to get this thing approved as a cessation device, I think we as vapers are going to have a problem on our hands.
With a wholly-owned “safe alternative” directly competing with e-cigs, that will give the well-funded tobacco loby a huge gun to start taking pot-shots at the underfunded and vastly disorganized electronic cigarette industry.
Yeah, I agree Steve, this could definitely be problematic for the e cigarette. As we all know money talks and when the tobacco companies get this product ready for market you can be sure they will be using their vast stockpiles of cash created by killing their clients to get this into smoker’s hands any way they can.
Once they get the testing done to prove that it’s less harmful than smoking tobacco cigarettes I can’t see the FDA standing in their way, even is a little cash needs to change hands to loosen up the regulations. It’s a pity the electronic cigarette companies don’t have the clout to get their products recognized as a less harmful cigarette replacement. Having said that, I hear that some of the retailers, including Green Smoke, have started the testing process so there is some light at the end of the tunnel if the e cig companies can learn to pull their resources.
Yeah, I think the problem is the industry is just way too disorganized. You have a lot of Asian manufacturers running around all over the place, and then tons of small businesses at the reseller level. Sure there’s a few big players out there like Blu, Greensmoke, Volcano, TW and a couple others, but even then comparatively, it’s just a drop in the bucket from a lobbying standpoint.
I think what needs to happen (and it may be unlikely) is that all of these interests need to band together and form an industry group. Big tobacco does it, pharma does it, that’s why they are in a position to crush e-cigs right now.
BTW, welcome back! I’m going to stick your feed in my blog roll here in a minute.
Steve
Yip, it does appear to be an extremely disorganized industry at the moment from the outside. I suppose we can hope there is stuff doing on in the background with the companies which might help us over the next couple of years but I’m not holding my breath.
I get the feeling that our best bet might be to make the e cigarette so popular with the millions of smokers that it can’t be ignored any longer. If you have 20 million people vaping instead of using tobacco then the industry is going to be worth a lot of money, and politically it would be harder to knock it on the head.
Thanks a lot for the blogroll link.