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Speaker 1: Why are cities across America considering bans on e-cigarettes and vaping? Is it to
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protect public health? While that's what you typically hear, I think there's another important
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explanation. After all, there are lots of unhealthy products that nobody's trying to
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ban. One reason vaping, in particular, is being
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targeted is due to lobbying from big businesses. Namely, tobacco companies. Hold on. Aren't
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some of the people pushing for bans on e-cigarettes the same folks who used to lobby against big
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tobacco? Absolutely. Many anti-tobacco activists have become anti-vaping
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activists. Saying that just like regular cigarettes, e-cigarettes could be dangerous for people's
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health or that they could send the wrong message to kids.
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Now those activists find themselves on the same side as their formal foes since tobacco
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company lobbyists are fighting e-cigarettes, too. They're worried about their bottom line.
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Studies show that vaping is twice as effective as other methods in helping people quit smoking.
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By pushing for regulations that make e-cigarettes less accessible to consumers they ensure that
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more people will keep smoking tobacco. We've got a classic case of what some scholars call
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the "Bootleggers and Baptists Phenomena." Well-intentioned activists end up pushing
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for the same rules in the interests they actually oppose. This helps lend all the lobbying efforts
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an air of legitimacy. They can claim it's for public health.
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Meanwhile, most of the lobbying money is on the side interests that don't care about health.
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They care about getting an unfair advantage over their competitors by using government
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regulations to work in their favor. The tobacco company, RJ Reynolds, has even
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hedged their bets by starting to make their own brands of e-cigarettes, while simultaneously
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lobbying for bans against other types of e-cigarettes. The kinds they don't make. Claiming that those
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kinds are a bigger health risk. Talk about an unfair advantage.
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Unfortunately, situations like this are not uncommon. In every industry, you'll find businesses
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that are using their money to lobby the government to get regulations passed that look like they're
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in the public interest, but actually benefit them at the expense of their competitors.
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Doesn't it seem wrong that these big businesses get to decide what you do with your body and
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your property? Isn't that for you to decide? A better approach would be allowing individuals
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and property owners to decide where e-cigarettes can be used ... not to enact regulations that
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make it harder for smokers to quit.
