Clive Bates, Director of Counterfactual Consulting, not only challenges but refutes the false activist proposition that kids are hooked by the flavours in e-cigarettes. In his article, The Bullshit Asymmetry Principle, he assiduously challenges this premise by asking and answering five questions.

1. Do flavours cause youth tobacco or nicotine use? No, adolescents already open to tobacco use are those mostly prone to vaping, regardless of flavours.
2. So, what does cause youth tobacco or nicotine use? It is not related to tobacco product features but to the characteristics of the individual and their circumstances, such as genetics, parental smoking, poverty, delinquency, rebelliousness, low self-esteem, peer group, etc.
3. What would teenage vapers do if they were not vaping? Teenagers interested in nicotine would likely revert to cigarettes, cigars or other tobacco products because the underlying demand remains unchanged.
4. How would a ban on flavours work? Prohibitions change the supply side for the worse. They cause new hazards due to informal manufacturing and workarounds. Illicit supply might also bring adolescents into contact with criminal networks.
5. What is really going on with youth vaping? Youth vaping follows two broad patterns: frivolous and experimental use (faddish, infrequent use) and determined nicotine use (teenagers who would otherwise use cigarettes or other tobacco products).

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