Public Health Argument #2 – A Person Smoking, versus a Person Vaping

Good afternoon, My name is ______ I am a [STATE] resident, a former smoker of _____ years, and a current vapor of ______ years. If this legislature truly has the public health’s best interests at heart, and the goal is genuinely a smoke free society, it must accept that vapors are part of the solution, not the problem. What we are here debating today is a simple choice; should those who want nicotine get it from tobacco, a known killer responsible for 480,000 deaths a year? or from vapor, which in over 10 years, has not caused a single fatality. I want you to let that sink in for a minute; not one single death has ever been attributed to vaping… Ever. To put that in perspective, last year, 2,410 kids died due to cosmetic products, 1,758 died from household cleaning products, and 808 died from vitamins. If we live in the real world, we have to accept the reality is, a certain portion of the population will always want nicotine; anyone with common sense must accept that that is not up for debate. We’ve had an entire generation raised in a world where almost every message concerning tobacco is, “it kills you”, yet the latest CDC report on tobacco indicates that 1 in 4 high schoolers have still experimented with tobacco, and 1 in 5 Americans still consume it on a regular basis. Though unfortunate, these statistics shouldn’t be shocking, we know abstinence only based approaches are proven to fail miserably. Indeed, when the results of abstinence only sex education were studied and documented – the abstinence only approach resulted in MORE teenage pregnancies. Likewise, if you take an abstinence only approach with nicotine. you are all but guaranteed the same results. Though [BILL] may be very well intended to reduce the cost of tobacco addiction to the public, the only thing it will accomplish is the exact opposite; it will simply result in more people getting their nicotine from tobacco, instead of a vastly safer alternative. When considering this bill, I implore you to live in the real world, and accept that some people will always want nicotine, and the only matter up for debate is how they get it. Therefore, if the goal is truly to protect the public health, you must vote no on [BILL], because vaping is the only realistic path to a society free from tobacco related death and disease.