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Comment by dr_dshiv | Hacker News Reader

It's really bad news that ecigarettes are now banned in India. Smoking is a huge public health issue there.

This is a moral panic. Somehow it touched a nerve...

That or tobacco still has a huge lobby there. Their entire history is to lie cheat and steal to do anything to keep their customers smoking.

Juul got billions from Altria, parent company of Philip Morris which makes things like Malboro. Doesn't make sense for a tobacco giant to lobby against itself, unless it was a competitor lobbying specifically against PM/Altria.

It does! A pack of cigarettes is about $0.06 to manufacture. A world of heavily regulated guaranteed profits is better than a world where you are subject to technology disruption. Juul could easily be replaced by some better tech, which almost certainly wouldn't come from Altria.

I absolutely believe the cigarette companies are behind some part of the current PR kill-job on ecigs. They simply benefit the most.

That could be true, yeah. boourns311's comment also helped me understand the viewpoint a little better. I'd be a little surprised if they were investing in Juul while also trying to sweep it away, but it's the tobacco industry. They're always doing anything they can to keep themselves afloat.

Some stats on tobacco usage in India:

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/272672/wntd...

Smokeless tobacco is more widely used than cigarettes, and quite a few states have banned gutka products already.

There still is a lobby, but I’d be hesitant to think that that’s all there is to the issue. Smoking is already on a decline, awareness regarding existing products is high. There is a high likelihood of risk avoidance in introducing newer products which might be misunderstood / improperly marketed by taking advantage of lack of knowledge. It is a bit heavy handed IMO, let’s see how the effects of the decision go.

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