The Case For The Vape
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 11 September 2019
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Host Shannon Palus discusses how today’s vaping panic is connected to the rise of the cigarette with Jacob Grier, author of the new book The Rediscovery of Tobacco: Smoking, Vaping, and the Creative Destruction of the Cigarette. Grier argues for a nuanced view of tobacco and nicotine’s place in America, and just how much parents should worry if their teen comes home with a Juul. They’ll also discuss why Sweden’s solution for tobacco risk reduction serves as an enviable model.
After the interview Shannon Palus joins co-host Aaron Mak for this week’s edition of “Don’t Close My Tabs.” Podcast production by Justin D. Wright.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to If Then, the show about how technology is changing our lives and our future. |
| 0:05.0 | I'm Shannon Paulus. |
| 0:12.3 | Hey, everyone. Welcome to If Then. We're coming to you from Slate and Future Tense, a partnership between Slate, Arizona State University, and New America. |
| 0:22.0 | We are recording this on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 10th. |
| 0:25.7 | On today's show, we'll be talking about the recent epidemic of mysterious vaping illnesses |
| 0:30.1 | and the real technology that's to blame for the rise of nicotine addiction in the United States, |
| 0:35.7 | with journalist Jacob Greer. |
| 0:39.2 | After the interview, my colleague Aaron Mack will join me for Don't Close My Tabs, where we'll talk about the best things we saw on the |
| 0:43.9 | web this week. That's all coming up on if then. If you're concerned about vaping right now, that's pretty understandable. |
| 0:56.8 | At least six people have died of a mysterious pneumonia-like illness that's been linked to electronic cigarettes. |
| 1:03.0 | The Centers for Disease Control is now looking into a total of 450 cases. |
| 1:08.4 | Hospitalization is a far from normal side effect of vaping. It appears that some of these |
| 1:12.6 | people use black market products containing THC, the stuff in pot that gets you high. Nonetheless, |
| 1:18.4 | this has led health officials and doctors to urge everyone to take the opportunity to quit |
| 1:22.8 | vaping altogether, since inhaling chemicals other than air isn't exactly healthy. It's a technology that some |
| 1:28.8 | argue is creating a new generation of nicotine addicts. So, why not just ban vaping altogether? We'll talk to |
| 1:35.5 | journalist Jacob Greer to learn the arguments for keeping vapes and other kinds of enjoyable |
| 1:39.6 | nicotine delivery systems around. He's covered these issues for more than a decade for publications |
| 1:44.9 | like Slate, Reason, and the Atlantic. His forthcoming book is The Rediscovery of Tobacco, |
| 1:51.1 | smoking, vaping, and the creative destruction of the cigarette. Welcome, Jacob. |
| 1:56.0 | Thank you for having me on. Thanks for being here. So to start off, you made the argument in a piece for Slate this |
| 2:01.6 | week that we should not ban vapes in response to the vaping associated illness. Why not just go |
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