Ethylene glycol is not toxic in the doses that you would be getting it in if you were "smoking" an electronic cigarette. Yes, it confers no health benefit whatsoever. Yes, it can put some amount of strain on your body. However, the FDA is incorrect in treating the ethylene glycol in electronic cigarettes as a "toxic chemical" unless they can provide some evidence, which they have not, that you could suffer from clinically significant kidney damage or legitimately dangerous levels of acidic metabolites of ethylene glycol as a result of using electronic cigarettes. Unless I see some numerical comparisons, I think it's a good bed that you are more likely to suffer from formaldehyde poisoning from drinking alcohol than to have any problems due to the amounts of ethylene glycol you are likely to get from an e-cig. I think I am justified, here, in thinking the FDA is full of shit.
The main reason the anti-smoking lobby is getting hot over this is that electronic cigarettes are actually fun to use. They come in flavors, and they are really a very attractive product. They are not going to accept any nicotine-containing product that is actually pleasurable to use. Therefore, they need some premise for claiming that it's bad for you. There is nothing legitimately wrong with these products, though, so they have to make up bullshit. They have to say, "nicotine, which is HIGHLY addictive," in every other sentence. Yes, douchebags: we know that nicotine is habit-forming. They have to keep reminding us that ethylene glycol is found in anti-freeze, just as a way to terrify people into thinking these things are full of toxic poisons. They state, "they still have the same carcinogens as cigarettes," even though they are present in very low levels compared to cigarettes. And what really pisses me off is that they are making claims that these electronic cigarettes are "being sold to children" because of the fact that these things come in flavors.
In short, it is more bullshit from the anti-smoking lobby. I am not bothered as much by their agenda as I am by the fact that they are full of horse shit. If all they were doing was expressing concern over certain flavors that could have too much appeal to naive children, who can't be expected to fully understand the idea of drug addiction, then I would be more sympathetic. This would be an honest concern. It would be a concern that I would agree with. I'm with Barack Obama in agreeing that it's irresponsible to sell cigarettes, which actually are dangerous, in flavors that make them taste like god-damned lollipops. Once they start trying to bullshit us, though, that's when my claws come out, and I'm not going to settle down until I've drawn blood.
Victims wanted. Right now, the anti-smoking lobby is sounding a little bit too much like those people who want to put gigantic warning labels on foods that contain products that have been tampered with genetically, and that was what REALLY alerted me that the organic foods lobby is one of the most crooked, corrupted, sold-out lobbies in Washington. The anti-smoking lobby is starting to look just as crooked, if you ask me. It looks to me like one of those situations where money is changing hands.
