Academy Of Ideas

In recent years, the popularity of e-cigarettes has exploded. They have been celebrated by many as being the greatest aid to smoking cessation ever invented, with even the anti-smoking group ASH giving them grudging approval. E-cigarettes do not contain the tar and toxins that make cigarettes harmful, but as this is a relatively new technology, some argue we cannot be sure of their long-term effects on people’s health. And even if they do turn out to be harmless, detractors worry they will ‘renormalise’ smoking and act as a gateway to smoking for young people. On these grounds organisations like the British Medical Association say they should be subject to the same stringent regulation, advertising bans and high taxes as tobacco. Internationally, a WHO report has called for them to be banned in public globally and the sale of e-cigarettes and the nicotine liquid they use is already banned in most Scandinavian countries. Several US cities, including New York and Chicago, have banned their