Good morning, everyone. I'm very pleased to be in Morocco attending the World Policy Conference, which is my first time. I have two hopes. One is that my diary will allow me to come back to join you again next year. The second hope is that hopefully at the next year's World Policy Conference, I'll be able to come with more of my fellow countrymen to share with you the Chinese narrative. I heard the name China being mentioned in many different contexts over the past day and a half, and I think I should encourage more of my fellow countrymen to come and share their narrative with you. Belt and Road. Two basic points. One, the Belt and Road initiative is not limited, not limited to the 60-plus countries that have found along the traditional Belt and Road. As an example, at the Belt and Road Summit held in Beijing May last year, the British Chancellor Schrecker and the United States Secretary for Commerce also actively participated. Over 100 countries were in Beijing for that location. That's the first point. Second, there are five connectivities. Much has been said about the successes and failures of the regional and international infrastructure projects, but there are actually five connectivities under the Belt and Road initiative. Policies, facilities, trade, capital, and people-to-people connectivity. I'll repeat again. Policies, facilities, trade, capital, and people-to-people. I shall return to these connectivities a bit later. The basic premise of the Belt and Road initiative is that the world is highly connected, and although it is already highly connected, it can be better connected still through more focused international cooperation. We had in the past overlooked certain parts of the world in terms of connectivities. We have overlooked certain parts of connectivity, and we have overlooked certain ways of enhancing connectivity. So it's time in this increasingly globalizing world that we have sort of focused actions. Let me give you one example. Kazakhstan is a country. This country is not small. It's not on our lips every day. In terms of land mass, it is the 10th largest country in the world. I, for one, fly from Hong Kong and out of Asia to parts of Europe, typically London, very frequently. I sometimes even do Hong Kong, London, their returns, leaving Hong Kong at midnight, arriving in London at 6 o'clock in the morning, breakfast, shower, change, going to the office by taxi, 9 o'clock meeting, finish at 5 o'clock, go back to the airport and fly back to Hong Kong. The flight, comfortable, convenient, takes about 11 hours. But somehow, we, living in Asia, and people living in London coming to Asia too, somehow assume that there's nothing, there's this hollowness between Hong Kong and Europe, or between Asia and Europe. Not knowing that you have these large countries, including five star countries, including Kazakhstan, the 10th largest country in the world in terms of land mass, that's there between Hong Kong and Europe. Flying from Hong Kong to Kazakhstan takes only about five and a half hours. Flying from the closer parts of Europe to Kazakhstan, again, takes only about five and a half hours. So that's one reason why we need to have a focused approach to connectivity, because we have been missing certain important parts of the world that we need to connect with. Now, why was I in Kazakhstan? I was there a few months ago to attend the launch of the International Financial Center. I had this conversation with the Kazakhstan Prime Minister when I was Chief Secretary of Hong Kong three years ago, and he mentioned to me the fact that they have taken international advice and they want to establish an International Financial Center in Astana, in Kazakhstan. And Hong Kong being one of the largest international financial centers in the world may have something to offer. And so, finally, they were ready, they launched. It was very well attended by European and American experts. There were a few Chinese people there, and it wasn't a Chinese initiative. It was an international initiative. And Kazakhstan has come up with a rather ingenious, innovative way of kick-starting the international financial activities. They have adopted, they needed to change the constitution for this. They adopted British common law when it comes to signing financial contracts, and they even appointed five senior British judges to form the Kazakhstan International Financial Center legal authority. Now, Kazakhstan is a landlocked country, big as it may be. There's now road connection to Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China, and then there's rail, new rail connection from Xinjiang to a seaport in southern China. I had a conversation with the Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan when I was there, exploring with him how goods to be exported from Kazakhstan to other parts of the world could use the road connection in China, and then a new rail connection in China. Instead of going along the Yangtze River to a eastern seaport, they could actually go down as an alternative to go down to the southern part of China, using a seaport there next to Vietnam. Now, who built the railway? It's a joint venture between Singapore and China. So that really goes to show how international, something as simple, you may say, as moving goods produced in Kazakhstan to the outside world may be. Now, the Prime Minister of Kordivore said yesterday that one of the priorities is the building of infrastructure. China is part of the international community, and China itself has done a lot of infrastructure in the past 40 years since reform started, and China realized a couple of things. Firstly, infrastructure projects could be costly. In Hong Kong, we just opened a month ago a very expensive high-speed rail connecting Hong Kong to the rest of the country's high-speed rail network. A few days ago, we opened this longest sea bridge in the world and also it's very costly. Now, China has learned that while these projects could be very costly, they are also crucially important in opening parts of the country so that people, goods, capital could move in and also in the reverse direction. And China likes to share this experience and expertise with other parts of the world on the trade front. It's not just about China, under the Belt and Road Initiative, exporting more to other countries. It is also about China buying more from other countries as well. In about 10 days, the first China import expo, import expo, it's not import and export expo, it's import expo, will be opened in Shanghai. So far, 2800 enterprises from 130 countries, 2800 enterprises from 130 countries, including 180 from the US have confirmed their participation. People-to-people connectivity, one of the five connectivities. Let me share with you what Hong Kong as part of China is doing. As an example, I found that a year ago, the Belt and Road Hong Kong Centre, and this centre focuses on people-to-people connectivity, not commerce, not trade, not capital movements. We have sponsored and organised so far students from 70 schools in Hong Kong to visit, so I say off the beaten track countries, including countries in Africa. The centre will sponsor 280 school principals and teachers as well. We also have a cataract blindness eradication project going on in Cambodia, in a certain province in Cambodia. We have identified 8000 to 10,000, which is the total size of the cataract blind population in this province in Cambodia, and our medical team is there to stay until the last patient is cured. So we'll probably take about two years to do this. It's a rather unique project in that we don't fly in and fly out. We fly in, we stay there until the last surgery is performed. Two weeks ago, the centre sponsored a visit of about 14 orphans from Kazakhstan to Hong Kong. Lastly, let me just conclude by quoting this and saying this. Well, I'd like to quote this, no man is an island. What I'd like to say is no man should be an island. Thank you very much.


Escape! Through a fighting your way through a frozen wilderness torn by the icy blast of an arctic blizzard and driving you on towards certain death is a man with a gun from whom you cannot escape. Escape! Designed to free you from the four walls of today for a half hour of high adventure. Tonight we escape to the Canadian north woods to a lonely wilderness where justice pines strange paths as James Oliver Curwood told it in his famous story, The Match. Just below the arctic circle where blizzards scream in the winter and tear frozen branches from the pine trees where the driven sleet cuts human skin like flying glass there men know and fear the eternal spirit of the icy north the great cold spirit that weaves the patterns of human destiny both weaves and destroys. Forever and again the spirit throws out strange swirls of chance and coincidence that meet eventually in a terrible whirlpool which swallows up the old pattern and creates some new and different one for men to wonder and marvel at. One such swirl in time and space began months ago and far to the south in a logging camp near the southern border of Canada where two men faced each other on a narrow trail in the light of a full moon. It began in violence and hatred. Come on, Lauren. Lauren, I've been talking to Jeannie. She told me what you did. Well, what about it? She told me all of it, the whole thing. Too bad, Lauren. But if you can't keep your wife from casting her eye around then that's your tough luck. There are no eyes cast around and you know it. All right then, what are you going to do about it? I'm not sure yet. Then I'll tell you, nothing. You haven't got a leg to stand on. I'm running this camp and every man in it. And if you don't like what I do, then get out. I'm planning to stay. In that case, you'd better get used to the way I run things. Men and women. And the next time I drop in... Why, you dirty... That's it, eh? Well then... Drop that knife, Thorne. Drop it! Get up, Thorne.  Get up, Thorne. What's the matter with you? Thorne! Thorne! Under his head... He's... He's dead. Jeanne? Billy, what's wrong? Jeanne, I ran into Thorne a few minutes ago. Oh, Billy. Your hand. What did you do? I hit him, Jeanne. He started to pull a knife so I knocked him down. His head hit a rock when he fell. He's dead. No. Oh, no! They probably won't find Thorne until morning, so I've got to get out of here in the next half hour. Please? I'm no here, Jeanne. They don't know me. It's just my word. I wouldn't have a chance. Where do we go? Not you. You're going to take the baby and go back to the cottage in New York State. But where are you planning to go? North, honey. A long ways, North. I'll have a better chance up there in the woods. They'll catch you, Billy. They always do. Don't worry. They won't catch me. And somehow, sooner or later, we're going to be back together again. And so in the south, one black swirl of chance is born and moves slowly northward through time and space. Moves even as the great Arctic storms move across the faces of continents. And there ahead of it, among the tumbled ridges of spruce and pine, another swirl of human fate moves at the whim of the bleak spirit of that frozen land. Moves first one way, then another. But centre's always near one certain red-coated uniform of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Centre's on the hard, lean figure of a man called Sergeant Brokaw. Nice shot, Sergeant. Thanks, Trooper. The captain sent Peter. Wait. There's one more target still up out there. Dead centre. Brother, I wish I could shoot like that. Work on it. Good shooting is something you'll need if you stay in the mountains. I guess it's helped you plenty of times. Yeah, a few. What have you got there, a telegram? Oh, yeah. It's an order the captain told me to bring out to you. Here. Let's see. Special assignment for apprehension in return of a fugitive named Billy Loring. Height 5 feet 11 inches, weight and so on and so on. Senior Hobbs landing on October 3rd and reported heading north, wanted for murder. Sergeant Brokaw assigned instruction, bring back fugitive. They make it sound plenty simple, Sergeant. Bring back fugitive. Not just the way it ought to sound. When you're assigned to bring a man in, you bring him in. That's all there's to it. There's no excuse and no alibi for not doing it. You can take my word on it, Trooper. I've been doing it for 12 years. And so far, you've never missed getting your man? Not so far, not ever. When I go after a man, I'm gonna get him, sooner or later. And one way or another, I'm gonna bring him back, every time. And that goes for this what's his name, Loring. You can bet your life on it. And so they grew in time and space, these two great swells of chance, the one hovering in the north and the other moving toward it slowly across a thousand miles and through 227 days. And one night at last, they met in a tiny, raw pine cabin hidden in the blizzard-frozen marsh hard up against the Arctic Circle. And the wild whirlpool born from that meeting created strange, new patterns of human life and death and destiny. All right, Loring, let's have your other wrist. And there. You don't need these handcuffs. You've got me, that's that. I don't take chances, Loring. You know it already, of course, but you're under arrest in the name of the Crown for murder. You can sit down in that chair with a stove. Thanks. It's funny, I've lived here all winter and I've had pretty good luck trapping. I've been selling furs to the Indians. In another month, I'd have had enough to go away and meet my wife. Then you come along. Tough luck, Loring. We'll start back for the post in the morning, or at least as soon as this blizzard lets up. That'll be three days, it always is. What's your name? Brokaw, Sergeant Brokaw. That's kind of funny, somehow, today being the day you found me. Glad I did.  What's so funny about today? It's her birthday. I mean, my wife, Jeannie. Here, let me show you. Hold it, Loring. Oh, no, no, no. It's all right. It's just her photograph. Here, let me unwrap it. See? She's a pretty girl. Yeah, that and everything else, Sergeant. You married? No. Had some of her hair, that curl that's pinned to the picture. Yeah, red, isn't it? It's like red gold. It's her birthday. So today's our wedding anniversary, too. She wanted it that way. She said the best things in her life always happen on her birthday. Yeah, well... Yeah, I... I guess it was crazy. But I was so happy when I got up this morning about what day it was and only two months to go and all. I put two places at the breakfast table and I propped her picture up by one of them. I sat there talking to her while we ate together. I guess you get like that up here alone. I haven't seen a white man for three months. I had a little dog for a while, but he died about six weeks ago and there wasn't any chance to get another one. Jeannie always liked dogs. Dogs and kids. You don't mind my talking this way, do you, Sergeant? It kinda helps. I don't mind. Why should I? Well, the thing is we've always been so blame-crazy about each other. We've never been apart until this came up.  And in another month or two, we'd... we'd have been back together. It's your own fault, Loring. It's not my concern. My job is to find you and bring you in. I've done part of that and I will do the rest of it. Maybe so. I warn you right now, Sergeant. I'll make it as tough for you as possible. I'm gonna get away if I can. You see, I promised her that we'd be together again. It's up to you, Loring. But if you start to play rough, I can play a whole lot rougher.  And there's nothing can stop me. Maybe so, Sergeant. You see? I'm probably the hardest man in the whole Royal Canadian Mounted Loring. And that's your hard luck, too.  You think that's why I talked about it? I don't know, and I don't care. The only thing that matters is that I've got a job to do. I always have done it, and I'm going to do it this time. You can depend on that.  Not a big part of it, Loring. It's all of it. Now, if you don't mind, I've come 15 miles through the snow today. Last five against the blizzard. I'm tired. Let's turn in. All right, sure. You can take the bunk and leave your clothes on. Is it all right if I get that photograph off the table? Go ahead. All right. Put your feet together, huh? What's the chain for it? Another reason to call me hard. I'm going to padlock it around your ankles. You are cautious. That's right, Loring. There. Call out if you want anything in the night.  I'll sleep here in the chair. And this gun happens to be caught. Thanks for warning me. Good night, Sergeant. Good night. By the way, Sergeant Brokaw. Yeah? It's too bad you never got married. Why? Because when you go to sleep, you've nobody to dream about. Billy? Billy, darling. Can you hear me? Yes, Jeannie. Yes, darling? Never mind the blizzard. It doesn't matter. We've been in storms before. Yes, I remember. And today's my birthday. And also the day we were married. Nothing can really hurt us. Everything's going to be all right. Yes, Jeannie. Oh, right. Yes, Jeannie. Yes, everything is going to be all right. Billy? Yes, Jeannie. Remember one time in the far? We built a bonfire on roasted ears of corn. That was in the field back of the cottage. Yes, two years ago. That was on your birthday too. Yes, yes. And do you remember how the smoke would always get in your eyes and how it would follow you around in your dreams? Sure, I remember. Remember? The smoke, Billy. The smoke. Sure, I remember. Billy, the smoke. The smoke. What? Smoke? The cabin's on fire. Sergeant, Sergeant Brokaw. Wake up, the cabin's on fire. Good luck. The whole roof's on fire. I'll carry it. We made it. I gotta get back in. You can't make it. Yes, you know the spot we're in, Loring. Yes, I know. Our heavy coats, mittens, slow shoes and all of our food is burning up inside there. And it's 40 below and the blizzard's just starting. Here, you can't lie there in the snow.  There you are. Thanks, Sergeant. What about the handcuffs? They stay on, Loring.  What difference does it make? We haven't a chance. You know that as well as I do. Yeah, I know. We couldn't be any worse off. We don't even have a match. I saw you fill your case and put it in your coat. It's inside there. We don't even have a match. I know that, Loring. And I know everything else you're gonna tell me. You don't have enough clothes to keep us from freezing to death. If we stay here and keep the fire going, we'll starve. It's 60 miles to the nearest post and 20 miles to Thorose, the next cabin down the trail. We might make 10 miles if we're lucky. More likely five. That's right, so why the handcuffs? You've been living up here for three months, Loring. I've got an idea. You probably know some cabin a lot closer than Thorose. Some Indian or a trapper. Maybe not more than two or three miles away. You want to start breaking trail? Well, suppose I did. What of it? Something good has always happened to me on Jeanne's birthday and I think it has this time, Sergeant. It's a lot easier to freeze to death than to go back and die the way I'd be doing it. So... Oh. So it's like that? It's like that. Unless you want to make a deal. What kind of a deal? The handcuffs, give me that revolver and I'll get you out of this. There's a cabin alright. Sorry, Loring. No deal.  I got nothing to lose with you just tossing your life away. How about it? It'll take turns breaking trail. You can lead off first. We may as well start... Where? Thorose, of course. 20 miles. You'll die here instead of 5 miles from here. Because I'll be 5 miles closer to bringing you in. Come on.  You're beaten and you know it. Why don't you give in? Come on, Loring. Let's get going. How far do you think we've come by now? I don't know. Let's rest for a minute. Yeah. I'm pretty winded myself. 5 miles you think? I'd say about 4. 16 more to Thorose. I think we'll make it, Sergeant. We'll try it. We only had some way of building fires so we could stop and get warm once in a while. Not even an Indian could build a fire in this position without matches. Yeah. The wind is slacking off a bit. Which means it'll get colder. No, we better move on. Sergeant, how about taking off these cuffs they're freezing to my skin? Look, I'm bleeding on both wrists. Then why don't you take us to that cabin you know about? Want to make that deal? No deal. No deal, no cabin? Then I'm sorry for you, Loring. But the cuffs stay on. Why? What difference can it make? We'll both be dead in two hours anyway. If we are, you'll still be wearing those cuffs and this gun will still be in my holster. Dead or alive, you'll still be my prisoner. The hardest men in the Maldives. Are you ready, Loring? Sure, why not? I'll let out for a while. Come on, let's go. Of all those who dwell in this frozen land, the bleak cruel spirit of the north is known best to men on the open trail. There, facing the breath of the blizzard, eyes blinded by the driving sleep, a man feels his soul grow small within him. And when that happens, his mind may turn to strange fantasies and to memories of a faraway voice. Can you hear me, Billy? Yes, Cheney. Everything's going to be all right, Billy. And everything's going to be all right. Sure, honey. The snow doesn't matter. And the blizzard doesn't matter. They'll be gone soon. And they'll be only us. Yeah. I can see you now standing there at the gate. In front of a cottage. That's right, darling. Don't look at the snow and the icy trees in the storm. Look at me instead. See? It's spring. The sunshine. And I'm wearing my hair the way you've always liked it. It's in curls all tumble. See, Billy? Yeah, yeah. Cheney, Cheney. Look, oh, what's the matter? Well, uh, I'm tired. Well, rest of it. You can't lie there like that. You'll be asleep in five minutes. That'll be the end. Thorough. How much further? Four on 14 miles. Come about six altogether. Hmm. Your hands. They're pretty bad shape. I don't know, Sergeant. I can't feel anything now. Might as well take those calves off. Still got your hands. Thanks, Sergeant. Yeah. Here's my gun. How come? I'm through. Beat. I'm giving in, Laurie. Take us to that chem. Ha, ha, ha, ha. What's wrong, Joe? You're too late, Sergeant. What do you mean? That cabin's about two miles from where mine was. We're over four miles from it now. Neither one of us can last another half mile. Yeah. I guess you're right. Well, looks like you win, Laurie. You might call it that. It's tough on you, though.  Well, we might as well keep moving. Why? This is as good a place as any. I'm not gonna stop trying as long as I can move. You can do what you like, Laurie. I'm going on. Wait a minute, Sergeant. If we had a fire and we could get warm for a while, then we could make that cabin without much danger. Yeah, we haven't. Let's save both of us and get us out of this. Will you go back to headquarters and tell them I'm dead? No. No, I can't do that. In 12 years of this service, I haven't run up a white flag once. I'm not gonna do it now. Dying or no dying. Duty, huh? God, whatever you want. We'll make you square off, though. Pull us out of this. I'll give you a 24-hour head start as soon as we're both on our feet again. You're all right, Broko. Funny, I don't even know why I'm doing this.  I'd have been safe then. Funny, I don't know why I'd do it. Maybe it's an account of her. What's your plan, Laurie? What have you got in mind? I'll take the offer of 24-hours, Broko. I've got a match. Yeah, just one. I remember dropping it in my pants pocket yesterday. It's on this side. Maybe you can get to it. Your hands are in better shape than mine. All right, I can't seem to... Yeah, you hear this? It's dry, too. Now drop it, it's the only one. Yeah, I've got to have some branches. Dry by here. You hold it while I get some off that birch tree. All right, match. Don't drop it, Lauren. Hold it carefully. Yeah, I got it. The bark's dry underneath. I ought to be all right to start it. That should burn all right? Yeah. I ought to have some dry paper just to make sure. I've got some. Hold the match. Oh, paper, after on that photograph. There you are. Funny, I was thinking about her when I remembered the match. I guess she's the one that's really going to like this fire. Well, there it is. You want to strike it? Or you want me to? You go ahead, my hands are still pretty stiff. All right. You want to have something dry to scratch it on? There's a gun file in my same pocket. We shouldn't get it. All right. Yeah, yeah, here it is. All right. Well, it's up to her now. All right, Jeannie, strike the match. Oh. Oh, Broco. Oh, Broco, what's the matter? The match. Lowering it went out. I had only chance and it went out. So that's that. I got to get moving. I got to get to Thorough. Broco, you can't make it. I got to go on. As long as I'm alive. I got to keep going. Broco, you don't have a chance. Broco! Well, what's the difference here It's not so bad. It's kind of peaceful. Dreamy. So peaceful it's just like going to sleep. Don't go to sleep, Billy. Wake up. Everything's going to be all right, Jeannie. Wake up, darling. You can't go to sleep. You've got to wake up. Everything's all right. The smoke, Billy. Don't you remember the smoke? We're going to be together again. Open your eyes. What? Smoke. The fire. It's burning. Spark from that match must have caught. Jeannie. The fire is burning. The fire. And so one man finds eternal sleep on the frozen breast of the snow.  When the blizzard has stripped the little things away and the soul of a man stands facing the blast clean and bare and alone then what is right and what is wrong Does justice depend on the striking of a match? Is human destiny only a thing of accident and of chance? Ask the icy voice of the Arctic storm. Ask the cold, bleak spirit of the great North woods. Escape is produced and directed by Norman McDonnell and tonight brought to you the match by James Oliver Kerwood adapted for radio by Les Crutchfield with Frank Lovejoy's Billy Wilms Herbert as Sergeant Brocaw since the film is genie Nestor Piva as Thorn and Clark Cuny as the trooper with Stan Waxman as the narrator the musical score was conducted by Wilbur Hatch Next week You are trapped on a remote plantation in the crawling Amazon jungle and an immense river of ravenous ants is closing in on you swarming in to eat you alive a deadly black army from which there is no escape Next week we bring back the escape story you have most requested in your letters Carl Stephenson's gripping tale Linenjin versus the ants Good night then until this same time next week when once again we offer you Escape This is CBS The Columbia Broadcasting System


Welcome to the Anxious Morning, where each weekday morning we take a look at ideas, concepts and lessons designed to help you understand and overcome your anxiety. For more information, visit us at theanxiousmorning.com We've all heard of fake news.  Anxiety invented the idea of fake news. When you are doing your best to move forward in recovery, you are learning to allow anxious thoughts without engaging with them. You work on allowing them to come without trying to stop them, argue with them, or otherwise interact with them directly. But why? Why do we take this approach? When your oversensitized brain keeps screaming scary thoughts at you, it would seem like common sense to argue with those thoughts so you can prove them wrong. You want to feel safe. Those disturbing thoughts make you feel anything but safe so you want to argue them away. It makes sense at face value. In fact, the world is jam packed with misguided mental health advice that will tell you to counter the thoughts with facts or to replace them with positive or happy thoughts. These seem like common sense approaches. Your own common sense and desire for soothing will compel you to ask your friends and family to assure you that the thoughts are wrong and that you are safe. The problem here is that when you do this, you put yourself into a debate with an opponent that does not exist in the reality you exist in. You are bound by the laws of physics, probability, unidirectional time flow, and everything else that makes reality into reality. Your anxious brain is not interested in any of that. Anxiety and anxious thoughts have no limits on them. They are not bound by the laws that govern reality. They can simply make things up for any reason and without regard for validity or veracity. An anxious brain will dismiss all of your arguments as fake news no matter how well grounded and watertight they may be.  Arguing with an anxious brain is pointless, frustrating, and exhausting.  You can't win an argument with an opponent that will just make things up without restriction while ignoring your arguments completely. Anxious thoughts are impossible to reason with.  So we stop trying. We allow the experience of reality to prove our point over time difficult though they might be. This is why we do what we do.  It's never a good plan. If you're enjoying the anxious morning and you'd like to get a copy of the podcast delivered into your email inbox every morning, visit the anxious morning dot email and subscribe to the newsletter. If you're listening on Apple or iTunes, take a second and leave a five star rating. Maybe write a small review. It really helps me out. And finally, if you find my work useful and you'd like to help keep it free of advertising and sponsorships, you can see all the ways to support the work at the anxious truth dot com slash support. Thanks so much.


Hey guys, and welcome back to another episode of Everything Science. On today's episode, we'll be looking at these little guys. Don't forget to leave a like and subscribe, and let's jump in. So is vaping really safe? Well, to answer that, we're gonna have to take a step back. The first e-cigarette was invented in China by Honolik as a safer and cleaner way to inhale nicotine after his father passed away from cancer associated with smoking. An e-cigarette is a pretty basic concept. They work by heating a liquid into a vapor that gets inhaled by the user. Once inside the body, the vapor condenses into a liquid and the nicotine flavorings and other chemicals are absorbed by the lungs. Use of e-cigarettes has exploded in recent years, especially in the US and UK where they come in over 500 brands and global sales topped $7 billion. So why do people use e-cigarettes? Well, there are a variety of reasons why people vape, but most boil down to for recreational use because people think it's a healthier alternative to smoking, to quit smoking, or to get around smoke-free laws. So let's look at these reasons. First off, are e-cigarettes safe? To start off, let's put them in context with traditional cigarettes. Traditional cigarettes contain cadmium, arsenic, tar, and hydrogen cyanide and eventually kill half of all people that smoke them. But most of the toxic chemicals found in tobacco smoke are absent in e-cigarette aerosol and those that are present are mostly below 1% of the levels found in tobacco smoke. So question solved, right? E-cigarettes are far safer than their alternatives and should be used to help people quit smoking? Well, unfortunately it's not that simple. First off, nicotine. Before we begin, it's important to mention that not all e-cigarettes contain nicotine, although the vast majority do. Even for e-cigarettes that don't contain nicotine, it's important to remember that the other chemicals found in e-cigarette liquid are not safe. According to a study conducted by the US Food and Drug Administration, inhalation of chemicals found in most e-cigarettes are known to cause respiratory diseases, especially at the concentrations found in most vaping devices. And for the rest of vaping devices? Nicotine is a toxic substance. It raises your blood pressure and spikes your adrenaline, which increases your likelihood of having a heart attack. While e-cigarettes are safer than their tobacco alternatives, at the end of the day there's no getting around that nicotine is a dangerous and harmful drug and can hurt brain development which continues to the early to mid-20s. On top of that, exposing your lungs to chemicals in general isn't a good idea since your alveoli, the part of your lungs responsible for pulling oxygen out of the air are very sensitive to foreign chemicals. What's worse, many e-cigarette users get even more nicotine from vaping than they would from a tobacco product. According to research at a Stanford University, in recent years, Juul, one of the largest and most popular vape companies, has created a nicotine arms race, pushing the vape market into more than doubling the amount of nicotine in a single vape pod. Experts say that now a single 5% vape pod contains as much nicotine as an entire pack of cigarettes, which makes the product highly addictive for nicotine naive teens. So no, vaping isn't safe. Now, let's look at the claim that vaping overall is good because it helps people quit smoking. First off, while in theory vaping should help people quit smoking, in practice this doesn't work. A study from a leading British research firm found that 90% of smokers couldn't quit after vaping, and meta-analysis published in the Lancet found that adult smokers who tried e-cigarettes were 28% less likely to stop smoking. On top of that, many people who vape are using it as the starter of their path to smoking, not the end of it. Over half of vaping teenagers have never smoked a real cigarette and think vaping is a safe option, according to Coventry University, which is especially dangerous considering how heavily e-cigarettes are marketed towards young people. In fact, the problem has gotten so bad that in 2018, the US Surgeon General reported that e-cigarette use among high school students had increased 900%. As a result, the Surgeon General issued just the fourth general advisory notice in the last decade, calling vaping among youth and epidemic in the United States. One reason this is especially problematic is that a study from the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that e-cigarette users are nearly four times more likely to start smoking within six months of using e-cigarettes compared to non-users. This means that, especially among younger generations that make up the majority of vapors, e-cigarettes are much more likely to get someone on smoking rather than get them off of it. Let's take a look back in time. Before e-cigarettes were first introduced, smoking rates amongst teenagers had been steadily and consistently decreasing for more than a decade, but now this decrease hasn't only halted its reversed course. But why are young people starting to vape in unprecedented numbers? Well, it comes down to marketing. The Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act of 1970 banned companies from advertising cigarettes on television and radio after the 1964 Surgeon General report that linked cancer and chronic bronchitis to smoking. Before this, young people were explicitly targeted by cigarette companies with celebrity endorsements. And cartoon characters like Joe the Camel that highlighted smoking as the latest cool trend. But e-cigarette companies have skirted these rules, claiming immunity while creating flavors like bubblegum and cotton candy and making advertisements aimed at millennials to make use of their products seem cool. Now, companies like Juul will tell you their products are safe and good to use, but that's just what Big Tobacco told us decades ago. Let me begin my questioning on the matter of whether or not nicotine is addictive. Let me ask you first, and I'd like to just go down the row, whether each of you believes that nicotine is not addictive. I heard virtually all of you touch on it and just yes or no. Do you believe nicotine is not addictive? I believe nicotine is not addictive, yes. Mr. Johnston. I don't believe that nicotine or our products are addictive. I believe nicotine is not addictive. I believe that nicotine is not addictive. I believe that nicotine is not addictive. And I too believe that nicotine is not addictive. The marketing efforts of companies like Juul can be seen in public perception. According to Gallup polls, while 83% of people aged 18 to 29 think smoking is harmful for human health, only 22% believe the same is true for e-cigarettes. So what can be done about this issue? Well, in recent months, the FDA has stepped up its efforts to police e-cigarettes and more and more places around the country are looking into legislation that would ban e-cigarette use in public spaces, much the same way traditional smoking is. And besides that, you at home can raise awareness by sharing this video with your friends before they get caught up in the trap. While we don't have all the facts just yet, day by day it appears increasingly likely that e-cigarettes are damaging lungs, creating addictions, and drawing young people into smoking rather than freeing smokers from their addictions. And this doesn't look set to change anytime soon. 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