E-cigarette ban leads to more tobacco use

Editor,

CNM followed UNM in banning the use of electronic cigarettes on campus. I asked Jennifer Cornish, multi-campus director/CNM Connect coordinator, why this was done. She referred me to an article, saying “our decision to include e-cigarettes was not taken lightly, especially because the scientific community is still researching their use and effects on individuals who use them and on those around them.”

Universities should exercise due diligence before banning substances. We are encouraged to do our own research before we make up our minds as students, so why does the University get to just read online articles?

There are simply no unbiased scientific studies that show e-cigarettes have harmful levels of pollutants. In fact, the data show that the vapors produced are nearly one hundred times safer than breathing alone. That means you should be banning exhaling air, not e-cigs.

I am shocked that a University that promotes learning and doing your own research has succumbed to tobacco industry lies and disinformation campaigns as its source of information. Shame on CNM and UNM for not doing their own research!

There is one scientific study, by Drexel University, which shows that there are no risks from e-cigarettes.

I am shamed by CNM and UNM’s lack of due diligence in this matter, and feel this knee-jerk reaction may directly contribute to higher tobacco cigarette use among the impressionable student body. I wonder how many will die because of this ’non-scientific approach’ to public health.

THR is the public health strategy of encouraging smokers to switch to low-risk alternatives like smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes. It is the only proven method for reducing smoking to less than a fifth of the population once it becomes established. CNM is part of the problem, and not the solution here.

I successfully quit using all forms of tobacco products; I was a two-pack-a-day smoker for 30 years. I just celebrated my one-year anniversary, and it was e-cigs that helped me quit tobacco, on my doctor’s advice.

Both UNM’s and CNM’s decision puts the student body at risk for continued use of tobacco products. This harms those who made the difficult decision to stop smoking. We will now have to vaporize (harmless to others) with smokers, and smell like tobacco smoke while inhaling harmful second-hand smoke. aaThanks, UNM/CNM, for putting my health first.

Bryan Bowling
UNM alumnus, ex-smoker