The first country to outlaw smoking may just be Australia. There will be a federal government funded trial to test the viability of electronic cigarettes showing they are safer, and they should be a permanent replacement for tobacco.
Labor took on Tobacco in the High Court and introduced to the world laws that vowed to ban all political donations from tobacco companies, but it was not documented whether the Coalition was committed to this ban.
Medical experts, cancer groups, and the anti-smoking lobbyists have battled for decades to eliminate cigarettes from “ALL” public places.
Although e-cigarettes are not yet federally regulated as tobacco products, in many cities and some states they are already moving to include the devices in their smoking bans. These bans are starting to raise a big debate as to whether e-cigarettes should be allowed to be used in smoke free workplaces.
The e-cigarettes are little battery powered devices that simulate the effect of smoking by heating nicotine liquid into vapor by which the user then inhales and exhales. These devices are starting to prove themselves as a safer means of smoking. There is no comprehensive scientific research into the health risk of inhaling this vapor.
Since the effects on health are still unknown Michael Wood the senior health consultant for Towers Watson holds on to the belief that we do not know enough about the chemical compounds or what is in the products so with the absence of this information employers should exclude e-cigarettes just as they would traditional cigarettes are any other tobacco in the workplace. He also added he does not think employers have policies on e-cigarette use in the workplace as of yet.
Currently, the Federal Government does not have a specific policy on vaping in the office or public. The Food and Drug Administration is determined to enforce the same regulations to e-cigarettes and any other inhalable nicotine / tobacco products and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention are starting to take a closer look at the health effects of vaping.
The issue with researching the health effects of e-cigarettes is that there are so many different types in the marketplace today it is hard to do a generalized accurate study.
Tim McAfee the director of the CDC’s office on smoking and health say’s “we just don’t know what’s in them, and we don’t know how much of what’s in them would get out into the environment, but the assumption would be that it would”. Tim goes on to say “woman that are pregnant along with former smokers should limit their exposure, (this also includes the use of nicotine and aerosol vapor e-cigarettes in the workplace)”.
Cigarette producers want to jump on the up-and-coming / new-age-product train including the names that have come down through the times. Phillip Morris USA has taken notice of US sales that exceeded $1-billion by the end of a year and now they are producing their own e-cigarette with the brand name MarkTen.
Now, we are not going to see people vaping in the malls, on the subways, or even in the coffee houses. But for those out there who think “we are all adults and we need to take back our lives” we must also remember school is still out on the effects of vapor smoke. Can vaping in the workplace stop that must have cigarette break increase productivity?
Contact The High Risk Guys for an Electronic Cigarette Merchant Account
