We knew we wanted to get in touch with a vape shop or someone who praises e-cigarettes to get their opinion on them. We look at a couple of vape shops in Gravesend but most of them looked run down and some weren't even in business still which was disappointing. However, I remembered going into a vape shop before in Canterbury with a friend and this shop looked really nice inside. Once I showed my group photos of this one in Canterbury they all liked the look of it as it has a modern setting which would look nice on camera. Following this, I got in touch with my friend for the shops name - Vape Royale.
We managed to get hold of Vape Royale. They seemed really up for meeting us and the guy we were talking to, Simon, suggested we come down next Wednesday 11th and talk to his colleague, Paul, who has a lot more knowledge on e-cigarettes and is happy to be in front of the camera.
Other people we contacted were representatives for the 'Stoptober' campaign but they weren't very helpful and we contacted Kent County Council to specifically contact the Public Health team or the Director for Public Health, Andrew Scott-Clark. Again, they weren't very helpful and they kept saying that they weren't the people we wanted to speak to, especially not on a county level so gave us numbers for the national level which we didn't want. We also thought about finding a doctor to contact because we imagine they would have bad things to say about e-cigarettes as opposed to the vape shop who would have positive things to say. Katie's cousin works in a doctors surgery so asked if she could speak to a doctor for us and we'll give her some questions for the doctor to answer.
The questions we thought of to send over were:
1. E-cigarettes have been endorsed in the stopover campaign by the government, is this a good idea?
2. Do we know the full risks associated with e-cigarettes? 3. What are the pros and cons of smoking e-cigarettes? 4. Are they really a healthier alternative to smoking? How? 5. Some still contain nicotine meaning they are still addictive, what is your opinion on this? 6. We have heard of people making their own liquid for e-cigarettes, is this dangerous? What risks are involved with this? 7. Overall, what is your stance on e-cigarettes?
So we are hoping to hear back from the doctor soon, speaking to the them is purely for research purposes unless we feel the need to interview them at one point along the line. If the doctor from Katie's cousins surgery doesn't get back to us, Ferg said that some of his friends are doctors and that we could have the numbers for them as a back up plan.
We spoke to Jo again and we got onto talking about people making their own vape liquid (DIY E-Juice) from Jason's friend who makes it. Straight away Jo said that would be a good story seeing Jason's friend making the liquid and then talking to someone who disagrees with it e.g. a doctor (in the process of getting hold of one). We then researched about making your own liquid juice and there were a few websites which had a how-to-guide about it, this is when we realised that there was
a rise of websites showing how to make the juice.
The next thing we did was research the dangers of making your own liquid because it doesn't sound safe to us. A lot of websites said only certain things brought from licensed sellers should be used in the liquid but this still sounds dodgy and unsafe. This is definitely a question we will be asking our interviewees and something we will consider when doing our research.
UPDATE:
The doctor got back to Katie very soon and answered all our questions:
1. E-cigarettes have been endorsed in the stopover campaign by the government, is this a good idea?
My initiative to help people reduce or quit smoking has to be endorsed unless the harm from the alternative is greater than that from smoking itself. There have been numerous studies looking into the harm from smoking e-cigarettes and despite the limitation due to length of exposure , it can be reasonable to state, at this current stage, that there are certainly less harmful toxic products present in e-cigarettes.
2. Do we know the full risks associated with e-cigarettes?
E- Cigarette contains nicotine and this in itself can lead to addiction. The public view being that it’s better than smoking may in the long run lead to an increase in the number of people taking this up. There is also this view that due this perception of it being completely safe, people might smoke this indoors and inside closed cars and expose young children to the risk of inhaling the vapour/smoke.
3. What are the pros and cons of smoking e-cigarettes?
The current evidence is that that there is less long term harm from smoking e-cigarettes and it certainly contains fewer carcinogenic by products but it does cause airway narrowing and thus can in the long run contribute to the development of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Asthma.
4. Are they really a healthier alternative to smoking? How?
As for current evidence , its considered that e-cigarettes are a safer alternative to smoking as they do not contain many of the by-products associated with the risk of many cancers, heart disease and stroke.
5. Some still contain nicotine meaning they are still addictive, what is your opinion on this?
They do contain nicotine and are thus addictive in the long run so in my opinion its role should be limited to using it to help smokers quit rather than a long term alternative to smoking.
6. We have heard of people making their own liquid for e-cigarettes, is this dangerous? What risks are involved with this?
People making their own fluid for e cigarettes can have dangerous consequences as they can lead to an increase in the risk of fire and the local effects on the oral cavity and respiratory passage can lead to irritation, swelling and breathing difficulties.
Even though we aren't interviewing a doctor in our report, talking to one has been very eye-opening as it has definitely broadened my knowledge of e-cigarettes. People who use the e-cigarettes or the employees at Vape Royale are always going to say that they are better than tobacco but it was nice to see what a doctor had to say as they would say it straight and if they actually are a good substitute.
We spoke to Jo again and we got onto talking about people making their own vape liquid (DIY E-Juice) from Jason's friend who makes it. Straight away Jo said that would be a good story seeing Jason's friend making the liquid and then talking to someone who disagrees with it e.g. a doctor (in the process of getting hold of one). We then researched about making your own liquid juice and there were a few websites which had a how-to-guide about it, this is when we realised that there was
a rise of websites showing how to make the juice.
 |
| http://www.bestclearomizer.com/ultimate-guide-to-diy-e-juice/ |
UPDATE:
The doctor got back to Katie very soon and answered all our questions:
1. E-cigarettes have been endorsed in the stopover campaign by the government, is this a good idea?
My initiative to help people reduce or quit smoking has to be endorsed unless the harm from the alternative is greater than that from smoking itself. There have been numerous studies looking into the harm from smoking e-cigarettes and despite the limitation due to length of exposure , it can be reasonable to state, at this current stage, that there are certainly less harmful toxic products present in e-cigarettes.
2. Do we know the full risks associated with e-cigarettes?
E- Cigarette contains nicotine and this in itself can lead to addiction. The public view being that it’s better than smoking may in the long run lead to an increase in the number of people taking this up. There is also this view that due this perception of it being completely safe, people might smoke this indoors and inside closed cars and expose young children to the risk of inhaling the vapour/smoke.
3. What are the pros and cons of smoking e-cigarettes?
The current evidence is that that there is less long term harm from smoking e-cigarettes and it certainly contains fewer carcinogenic by products but it does cause airway narrowing and thus can in the long run contribute to the development of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Asthma.
4. Are they really a healthier alternative to smoking? How?
As for current evidence , its considered that e-cigarettes are a safer alternative to smoking as they do not contain many of the by-products associated with the risk of many cancers, heart disease and stroke.
5. Some still contain nicotine meaning they are still addictive, what is your opinion on this?
They do contain nicotine and are thus addictive in the long run so in my opinion its role should be limited to using it to help smokers quit rather than a long term alternative to smoking.
6. We have heard of people making their own liquid for e-cigarettes, is this dangerous? What risks are involved with this?
People making their own fluid for e cigarettes can have dangerous consequences as they can lead to an increase in the risk of fire and the local effects on the oral cavity and respiratory passage can lead to irritation, swelling and breathing difficulties.
Even though we aren't interviewing a doctor in our report, talking to one has been very eye-opening as it has definitely broadened my knowledge of e-cigarettes. People who use the e-cigarettes or the employees at Vape Royale are always going to say that they are better than tobacco but it was nice to see what a doctor had to say as they would say it straight and if they actually are a good substitute.
No comments:
Post a Comment