FEATURE
GLOBAL
COMMUNITY
MUST UNITE BEFORE
IT’S ALL OVER
BY TONY OTTOMANELLI II
The US is home to more vapers than any other country
worldwide, while the UK is the second largest global market for
the international vape industry. The UK has also become what
many refer to as the Mecca of vaping since countless states have
passed some restrictive regulations and taxation plans across the
US, especially California — the previous Mecca.
In regards to this, the UK has earned the nickname for several
reasons, due in large part to the assessment about vaping made
by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and Public Health
England (PHE).
RCP confirms that vapour devices are 95 percent less harmful
than smoking. This analysis by the prestigious medical institution
has become a key piece of information and a major talking point
to prove any arguments against vaping to be entirely inaccurate.
Therefore, one could call it obvious that the UK is indeed the
most vape-friendly nation on the entire planet. A key feature to
the British culture that has caused much US-envy as well as UK-
pride. Perhaps these emotional responses were anticipated and
have been put in place by design for potential exploitation.
96 | VM17
Given the rising tensions over the flavour debate in the US vaping
community, the Food and Drug Administration’s plan to regulate
e-liquid flavours has grown ever more threatening.
One thing the global community should be cognisant of is that if
the US vaping industry is allowed to be systematically depleted,
then it is only a matter of time before the entire global industry will
collapse.
This is indeed a possible result when analysing the available
economic statistics. For instance, the US consumes over half of
the world’s vaping products, so if such a sector is eliminated from
the commerce that is conducted among vape-based businesses,
this would