A Daily Beast story published last weekend tells the story of the worst-kept secret in vaping—that British American Tobacco is behind the World Vapers’ Alliance, a supposed grassroots vaping advocacy group.
The tobacco giant’s involvement with WVA was no secret among vaping advocates, which is probably a major reason why the organization only has 20,000 individual members, despite extensive social media efforts.
What the Daily Beast story doesn’t explain is that activist vapers—particularly in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe—tend to mistrust and resent involvement in vaping issues by the tobacco industry.
That’s partly because companies like BAT’s American subsidiary Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) have gone out of their way to eliminate the competition posed by independent vaping businesses beloved by many vapers.
Jim McDonald – Vaping360 – 2022-01-11.