Head of Directorate of Health interviewed on "Good morning Norway" (TV)

While I was running this morning on the treadmill I watched the Good morning Norway show on TV. They got these fancy new treadmills with TV's integrated... fucking awesome. They had invited the head of the directorate of health, Bjørn Guldvog, to talk about how to keep your new years resolution and stop smoking. He presented their new campaign, a fantastic new method for throwing away the fags, no less than a revolution: They have created a... wait for it... FACEBOOK PAGE! I'm surprised no one though of that before now...

The interviewer asks him about e-cigarettes and why this is still banned, and of course the answer is the usual  missing documentation and precautionary principles. But, he then even goes as far as saying that IF this documentation they are waiting for shows positive results, they will of course facilitate use of e-cigarettes ... in a reasonable way. Sound good huh? Well... we all know what their "reasonable way" is right... so I'm not convinced. And then he finishes by saying that they basically think there is a lot of negative consequences of releasing e-cigarettes with nicotine to the public and then this: "In the USA, for example, in some states where this is legal, we see that this has doubled the number of teens smoking". WTF? Where the hell does he get this information? I did some google-searches and found this: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/blogs/daily-dose/2013/11/15/ecigarettes/Omxkk9rdyhVCItnaQmsBrM/blog.html
Well... I don't know what to say really. First of all it says that teen SMOKING rates haven't budged (but nothing about doubled), and it says teen VAPING rates has doubled, from 1.5% to 2.8%. And then it claims e-cigarettes are like the "wild, wild west", no one knowing whats in them. Ehm... the point is that we know EXACTLY what is in them, as opposed to normal cigarettes. I give up... what a load of bullshit.

I wrote an email to the Directorate of Health and asked for documentation for Guldvog's claims. Did some google searches and looks to me that smoking rates amongst teenagers in the USA is reported to be lower than ever. I'll let you all know when I get an answer.