“Under increasing pressure, big tobacco companies are doing everything possible to keep electronic cigarettes, which offer a safer nicotine alternative, from intruding upon their shelf space. It is easy to see why vaping, which offers a safer product with reportedly better taste and smell due to its wider availability of flavors, is edging out traditional cigarettes in the marketplace. But tobacco companies aren’t competing in a free market. And Big Tobacco learned long ago how to use their financial clout to make sure the regulatory process works in their favor. They’ve developed a deep political playbook at the federal and state level as well. At the federal level, tobacco companies are promoting federal taxes on electronic cigarettes and even tax cuts on traditional cigarettes. At the state level, there are campaigns to ban flavored electronic cigarettes and to divert some Master Settlement Agreement funds from anti-tobacco advertising to anti-vaping advertising. ”
ARTICLE LINK: Tobacco’s Surprising Partners in Stubbing Out Vaping
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