Across the pond, U.K. health authorities have been contemplating whether e-cigarettes should be provided on prescription by the National Health Service. Public Health England’s latest evidence review extolls the virtues of vaping as a dramatically safer alternative to smoking. There’s even a helpful blog on the government’s website debunking some of the popular myths around vaping like, “E-cigarettes give you ‘popcorn lung.’”

But closer to home, the Food and Drug Administration, driven by the remorselessness of its own regulatory logic, is marching down a path that could see more than 99 percent of e-cigarette products taken off the market by 2022.