Slashdot Mirror
US Navy Bans Vaping On Ships (go.com)
The U.S. Navy announced today that it will no longer allow sailors to use electronic cigarettes on ships, following several reports of explosives and injuries. ABC News reports: Naval commanders said in a statement Friday that the temporary electronic cigarette policy aims to protect sailors and the fleet. It starts next month. Officials cited overheated batteries in vaping equipment as the problem. Explosions have led to fires, first-degree burns and facial disfigurement. During a recent eight-month stretch, 12 incidents put sailors out of work for a combined 77 days. Injuries also restricted some to light duty for a total of five months.
Why not, I dunno, sell government approved vape pens in the commissary? From what I've read, most of the incidents with vaping are from people trying to "soup up" their vape machines. This amounts to banning Honda Civics on base because a few ill informed morons cause them to ignite by modifying them in ways they don't really understand.
Cancer is a bigger health problem than hemorrhoids. Does that mean you want big pharma to stop working on hemorrhoids cream and focus all their energy on cancer?
Maybe there's room for common sense and picking low-hanging fruit is part of it.
lucm, indeed.
I'm frankly very surprised by the extreme lack of any understanding of what vaping is, how electronic cigarettes work, in even the most general sense, or what's in e liquid or the vapor. There has been basically no correct information stated anywhere in this whole comment section, except that the actual cause of these injuries is cheap, low quality, Chinese batteries.
Vaping is a harm reduction activity, for people who have been unsuccessful trying to quit smoking. If you can't get off nicotine, better to get it from vaping than smoking. The Royal College of Physicians in the U.K. estimates vaping is approximately 95% less harmful than cigarettes. You can think what you want, but if you think it's just as bad as cigarettes, you are an idiot. It's also not water vapor being exhaled. I'm not sure where that ever came from, but in it's attempt to make vaping sound safe, it instead makes anyone who repeats it sound stupid. There's no reason for most people to care about vaping unless they know someone who does it, but just know, it's keeping someone from smoking, and that should be reason enough to be ok with at, as long as they don't blow it right in your face.
I agree that the young crowd who only want to blow huge clouds are ruining it for everyone else, but if it's keeping them off combustible cigarettes, it's still ok with me.
>"Vaping people don't smell like coffee, the ones I know smell like strawberry bubble gum and other chemicals."
And food doesn't smell like chocolate but like pig and fish and other chemicals. (Highly offensive to a vegetarian)
See how silly that sounds? It depends on what people are vaping. There are lots that have almost no smell. Being annoying is not the fault of vaping, it is the fault of what they select. So instruct people to not use stupid smelling stuff. I have been around both types before (smelly and non-smelly) so I know there are differences.
Cars with illegally modified exhaust systems are loud and annoying. Ban all cars.
Some motorcycle drivers speed recklessly and weave between cars without using turn signals or leaving adequate clearance. Ban all motorcycles.
People blasting rap "music" is loud and annoying. Ban all stereos.
People wearing lots of perfume is horrible and annoying. Ban all toiletries.
Light pollution destroys the night sky and is annoying. Ban all lights.
People that walk into traffic looking at phones is unsafe and dangerous. Ban all phones.
Drunk people who pee on walls is gross and annoying. Ban all alcohol.
Guns are sometimes used by some bad people to illegally hurt other people (usually bad people), unlike 99.9999% of good gun owners. Ban all guns.
I could go on, but I think my point is made. There is always a small minority of people that will ruin ANYTHING for everyone else. So back to the actual topic....
A small fraction of people vaping modify their equipment with cheap crap to do things that are unsafe and stupid. And a small percent of THOSE people cause negative incidents (which is no surprise). That is not a good reason to ban all vaping.