IN hindsight, e-cigarettes may well go down as one of the greatest devices to slash addiction, deaths and the massive toll on NHS resources. 

Real tobacco cigarettes cause misery and death, decimate your bank balance, and smash a hole in the public purse. 

No doubt the BMA are happy to recommend any number of nicotine patches or gels that have been successfully lobbied by pharmaceutical companies

Most sensible observers would think a harmless alternative that is taking thousands of traditional smokers off the evil weed would be a good thing. Not the Ayatollahs who run organisations like Merseyrail though. They are threatening a ban. 

The train operator pompously declares that it “closely monitors” customers' views on tobacco and e-cigraettes. Really? Tobacco was banned in public places in 2007 so what sort of monitoring does that entail? 



As for fake fags, I don’t believe for a minute they have had a deluge of complaints. In fact, I doubt they’ve had one. What some senior managers have seen is a few train operators (namely C2C, Greater Anglia and First Capital Connect) bringing in this senseless ban and are pondering following suit. 

The arguments are pretty lame. One train company says e-cigarettes make passengers uneasy. Do they? Says who? This all smacks of curtailing civil liberties for no other reason than some nameless person somewhere is worried in case another is following some faintly pleasurable pursuit.

Even ASH, the anti-smoking organisation says a public ban would be unhelpful for those trying to give up.

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I use Merseyrail fairly frequently and I have yet to be lost in a fog of odourless vapour from an army of fake fag users.

When I successfully used an electronic cigarette to break my 30-year tobacco habit I never used it on the train – it was for those tempting occasions in the pub, which were far more relevant. However for those who do occasionally want to inhale vapour or “vape up”, where is the harm?

The vapour in an e-fag is typically propylene glycol with just a hint of nicotine flavour. Macie Goniewicz of the Roswell Cancer Institute in Buffalo, US, says more research is needed into the effects of vaping but one thing is certain – you cannot inhale vapours as you can from passive smoking. Therefore a ban in public places is entirely irrelevant.

So just who is Merseyrail intending to protect? Certainly not the seasoned smoker who may have spent years trying every method under the sun to quit, spent a small fortune and in all likelihood is facing a miserable early demise in the lung cancer capital of the UK.

Where has this backlash come from? After all, more people are quitting and even tobacco companies are now investing their profits into these healthier alternatives.

Step forward the good old British Medical Association, the arbiter of what’s right and wrong for you and I to be doing.

The BMA’s take, with no evidence whatsoever, is that a blanket public ban is necessary to prevent exposure to inhaling the odd nicotine vapour from some of the devices. Not lethal carbon monoxide or carcinogen-laden smoke. Does anyone seriously believe that if there was any hint that these products were dangerous they would still be on the shelves?

Further, they are advising their members, ie doctors, that e-cigs should not be recommended as an alternative lower risk to smoking!

No doubt they are happy to recommend any number of nicotine patches or gels that have been successfully lobbied by pharmaceutical companies. Yet the studies on their effectiveness on those are iffy and many side effects have been reported.

The BMA wants regulation but that’s not possible. Ecigs are not a medical product and the Dutch government was recently fined in the Hague courts for attempting to do exactly this.

They are already regulated under general product and chemical rules.

Merseyrail comment: “Merseyrail closely monitors the views of our customers regarding the smoking of tobacco and e-cigarettes on trains and stations and we are reviewing this policy.

“ Should we conclude that there is a place for outlawing it, we will take the necessary steps to do so”. Note the Orwellian “should we conclude”. And how are they going to conclude that? Listen to second hand reports from other operators and the BMA?

Meanwhile there are 1.3m e-cigarette users and more are stopping smoking each day. It seems some train companies want to drive them back into cars where it is more likely they will end up puffing on the real thing.

Follow Barry Turnbull on twitter @barryturnbull2