In the News January 6th

Wednesdays News at a glance:

A Whole New Level Of Denial – Harm Reduction is plain EVIL in Sweden – McChapman, Or, The Vaping Play – Quit Story – Smoking in England – Vaping 2016: Where Do We Go From Here – The key fact about ecig junk science – Year 2015 Lobbying Against E-cigarettes! – How researchers dupe the public with a sneaky practice called “outcome switching” – Attack on e-cigarettes as gateway products draws from same old playbook

A Whole New Level Of Denial

Dick Puddlecote

Regular visitors here will be aware that I’ve often remarked on the marvellous capacity of e-cigs to expose irrational hatred from condescending, anti-social, psychotic smoker-haters, as exhibited nicely by Duncan Bannatyne in 2010.

Of course, he didn’t know exactly why he despised e-cigs back then because he knew absolutely nothing about them and probably still doesn’t. He just despised them. I theorised as to why at the time…

Harm Reduction

Is plain EVIL in Sweden – Erik Berfits

There has been a massive and concerted anti-THR effort in Sweden this Silly season.

Absolutely all news outlets picked up on a re-released statement from the Norwegian Doctors Association calling for a total and lifelong ban on purchasing all forms (especially snus of course) for anyone born after the year 2000. This is called “phasing out tobacco from society”. In theory this is against all forms of common sense and choice discussions, but if only applicable to combustibles, at least probably healthy for those who heed the ban. Everyone else loses….

Quit Story

I made this site to help inspire, support, and give voice to those intending to stop smoking and those that already have. Too often we hear about failure rates and relapse, that NRT doesn’t work or that vaping isn’t ‘not smoking’.

Who am I? I’m a vaper. More specifically I’m a vendor (Tristan from Spiritus Vapes in the UK) and I’m happily in the group that is constantly told they haven’t really given up smoking.

Vaping 2016:

Where Do We Go From Here

A quick look back at the last 365 days before pulling out the crystal ball and gazing into the world of tomorrow. We are just wrapping up the Best Of 2015 polls and while we all wait with bated breath for the release of the companies chosen by the vaping community, we should take a look at the achievements we have made and the road we have yet to travel….

McChapman, Or, The Vaping Play

Fergus Mason – ECigs Plaza

There is no evidence that vaping is a gateway to smoking. There never has been and there never will be. You wouldn’t guess that from listening to the usual assortment of puritans, quacks and “public health experts” though. They just keep on repeating it, as though by doing so they can make it true.

So, without further ado, let’s raise the curtain on tonight’s play…..

Smoking in England

Latest Statistics:

This section provides a summaries of useful national statistics for the current year, including information on smoking prevalence, motivation to stop, quit attempts, what people use when they try to quit, actual quit rates, regional differences, use of the stop smoking services and more.

The key fact about ecig junk science:

“Public health” is a dishonest discipline: Carl V. Phillips – Anti-THR Lies

The latest kerfuffle around e-cigarette junk science comes from this toxicology study or, more precisely, this press release that is vaguely related to the study. Basically, a San Diego toxicology research group bathed cells in a very high dose of the liquids that come out of an e-cigarette, and eventually there were detectable changes in the cells. That is really all you need to know about the study’s actual results. (If you want more background, see Clive Bates’s post.)

The Year In E-Cigarettes:

The Good, The Bad, The Reason For Optimism – Sally Satel

As 2015 draws to a close, electronic cigarettes remain as controversial and as poorly understood among the general public as they were a year ago. Are e-cigarettes re-normalizing smoking? Are kids using them as a stepping stone to combustible cigarettes? Do flavors lure teens? Are e-cigarettes as harmful as the real thing? Are formaldehyde and other toxins a threat to vapers?

Year 2015 Lobbying Against E-cigarettes!

Insight Ticker

The year 2015 played host to the most intense campaign of misinformation and lobbying against e-cigarettes yet, perhaps due to exploding popularity over the last year. Public health activists, prohibitionists, and journalists have jumped…

The year 2015 played host to the most intense campaign of misinformation and lobbying against e-cigarettes yet, perhaps due to exploding popularity over the last year…

How researchers dupe the public

With a sneaky practice called “outcome switching” – Julia Belluz

For years, the drug company GlaxoSmithKline illegally marketed paroxetine, sold under the brand name Paxil, as an antidepressant for children and teenagers. It did so by citing what’s known as Study 329 — research that was funded by the drug company and published in 2001, claiming to show that Paxil is “well tolerated and effective” for kids.

That marketing effort worked. In 2002 alone, doctors wrote 2 million Paxil prescriptions for children and adolescents….

Attack on e-cigarettes as gateway products

Draws from same old playbook – Brad Rodu

False claims that e-cigarettes are a gateway to smoking dissuade smokers from switching to safer smokeless products, leaving them at greater risk of fatal disease. The prohibitionists’ playbook was developed some 15 years ago, when Dr. Scott Tomar, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Florida, published a smokeless tobacco study with a pronounced “gateway” spin: