The Assault on E-Cigarettes

E-cigarettes have a lot of enemies, some of whom make for strange bedfellows: Bureaucrats, Big Tobacco, and now…liberals?

Jason Healy, president of Blu Cigs, and Craig Weiss, president of NJOY, were recently grilled by the Senate Commerce Committee. Senators accused the companies of targeting kids by putting flavors in their e-cigs and placing ads during the Super Bowl and on a Sports Illustrated model’s swimsuit. This led Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) to assert, “You are using the same tactics and ads used by Big Tobacco that proved so effective.”

Actually, it’s the critics of e-cigs who are borrowing the tactics used against Big Tobacco.

Whether the cause is taking away Second Amendment rights or telling people what they can and cannot eat, liberals often brand their efforts as children’s campaigns.

For example, during the anti-smoking crusades of the 1990s, there was a widely cited study showing children could successfully match Joe the Camel to his product: Cigarettes. The study’s authors focused on just 23 six-year-olds—21 of whom made the Joe to Cigarette connection.

That is a surprisingly high number. However, a sample size of 23 toddlers is simply too small to be taken seriously. Furthermore, the results of this study were never replicated. Yet a single study—poorly designed and never repeated—became a major talking point for a movement.

Violators of the Constitution never stop at violating the rights of bad guys. Eventually, using the same deceptive techniques, they come for the rest of us.

For more, you can read the September edition of “Green Watch” here.

This blog post was adapted from Part II of the September edition of Capital Research Center’s “Green Watch,” by Steven J. Allen.