My name is Joe Dunne and I own VIP E Cigarette, I am asking you to really read the facts below and also to investigate them to ensure they are true. We have had many pieces on Smoking and Vaping the past few weeks and below outlines relevant information on the whole sector and I ask you to consider telling people the truth or at least outlining the facts from experts to let smokers make an informed decision for themselves.

Imagine if we had a country where we told people the facts and let them make up their own mind, wouldn’t that be amazing. This info is for you to use as you wish and I wish you do use it.

Sir Kevin Barron in the House of Parliament in July 2018 stated: “In 2011 the UK and Ireland went down different routes in tobacco harm reduction and since then Ireland’s smoking rate has stagnated and the UK’s has dropped by over 5% and is at a record all-time low.” This is down to the Vaping policies in the UK when compared to Ireland. The UK now has a committee studying ways to keep the rate dropping and have recommended only in the last few weeks that the Government should provide reassurance to healthcare professionals and the public on the safety and efficiency of e-cigarettes. They should help motivate the 40% of smokers who are yet to try Vaping and also to allow companies to advertise the comparative health claim too.

UK smoking rate dropped from 19.6% to 14.9% in 5 years. It is endorsed on all websites in the UK, Cancer UK, ASH UK. NHS etc.

It is so hard to even comprehend that we as a country stick our heads in the sand about a product that can save lives, a product that can reduce cancer deaths in this country. It is like the saying, people are afraid of what they do not understand, and this is the case here. We have a health system that fails people and we have one of the highest cancer and smoking rates in the world. Look at these simple facts

  • Nearly 7000 people die in Ireland each year from smoke-related illness, that’s 583 a month or 135 a week or 19 a day.
  • 19 People a Day, Every day – now that is a chilling statistic.
  • The HSE spends over 277 million yearly on people with smoke-related illness as it equates to approx 36,000 hospital admissions for smoke-related illness at a cost of about 7,700 euro. Imagine if we could reduce the admissions by even 10% – it would help people’s health and would save the Government around 27 million euro.

These numbers are just so scary and in Ireland we do nothing or we do the same things we have always done and expected different results.

A recent study on Vaping perception in the UK and Ireland, conducted by Amarach, found that
• 43% of UK smokers view Vaping as safer than smoking compared to 18% of Irish smokers
• 37% of Irish smokers feel fully informed on smoke-free alternatives compared to 61% in the UK
• 47% of Irish smokers believe that healthy bodies and government are responsible to inform them on smoke-free options

The past week we have had many media pieces on Smoking and Quitting. I heard Dr Paul Kavanagh, an adviser to the HSE Quit Department, talk about quitting smoking. He has advised the HSE for a few years now and must be doing an excellent job as our smoking rate has stayed stagnant for the past few years. He was on the radio this week saying that smokers should use tested and effective methods like NRT, medicine and services.

His main point was that Vaping is not proven and we do not know the long-term effects of Vaping. This is not true as Vaping is proven to help people Quit as HIQA stated in 2016 that of all the smokers who QUIT 37% used Vaping. Regarding long-term effects of Vaping, we are not asking non-smokers to Vape, we are saying that we do know that the long-term effects of Vaping are less harmful than long-term effects of smoking.

He stated that NRT works yet it has a failure rate of between 86-90%. Dr Kavanagh is an adviser and is paid by the HSE and he for the past few years has just said the same things. He stated that there are new smoking cessation guidelines coming soon and I bet you Vaping has no part in it, as per normal procedure. 1 in 5 people smoke in Ireland and even more worrying is 1 in 3 smoke in the 25-34 age group.
This past week we also had Public Health England show us a video of Smoking Vs Vaping based on one month’s use. It shows you the effect of Smoking for just one month and shows you how it harms your insides and you can see the tar and nastiness of Cigarettes.

It then shows you vaping and you can see the huge difference between both. Vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking and this is from the experts in Tobacco Harm Reduction, if you look at the UK they endorse Vaping and have the lowest ever smoking rate in their history, we do not endorse Vaping and we have a smoking rate that has been stagnant the past few years. Click here to see the impactful video on Smoking Vs Vaping !!!!Here is a true version of where we are in this fight.

  • We have a smoking rate of 22% and has been at this rate for the past few years
    Tobacco Free Research Institute says we will be tobacco-free by 2025
  • The EU predictor for smoking rates, based on our current levels and policies show that we will, at best, have a rate of 12.4% by 2025 – where the UK is on course for a rate of 12% by 2022 and smoke-free by 2030
  • TFRI here had funding given to them by Minister James Reilly of 190,000 from Dept Health Lottery fund to see if Quit.ie was better than the Allen Carr book, this is how they used funds to compared 2 outdated and unsuccessful methods.
  • HIQA showed that of the smokers who Quit in 2016, 30% had used e-cigarettes and also Vaping was the most cost effective also. But they say they are not sure that they help in Quitting.
  • We have no mention on any websites for Vaping and it is just hidden from the smokers of the country.

I welcome any meeting, interview, a debate on this subject and on the info above.

I thank you for your time and I hope you will look into this and do the right thing.

By the time you finish work today 19 people will have died from Smoke Related Illness !!!!!