In the News 27th April

Mondays News at a glance:

Why We Should Support…. – IE Ireland – Tobacco companies can’t tell their arse from their elbow – Nitecore D4 Digi Charger – UPDATED 27/04/2015 Recall – Finally the Science is catching up with e-cig users – Five myths about the chemicals you breathe, eat and drink – New studies highlight the danger posed by the Tobacco Products Directive – ‘Vaping leads to smoking’ claim is stubbed out – Journal Commentary on Electronic Cigarettes is a Scientifically Unsupportable Hatchet Job and Fails to Disclose Author’s Conflict of Interest –  Health Journalists. Ethics & Truth. Don’t Shoot the Messenger.. -What’s in a label? –  Simple talking points on RCTs not being a very useful way to study tobacco harm reduction – Nicotine Science and Policy – Daily Digest – Mon, 27 April 2015

Why We Should Support….

A triple billing from Facts Do Matter A great site, well worth following

In one of my earlier posts, I received a comment mentioning that Totally Wicked should not have put their business name on the campaign to challenge Article 20.  I’ll admit I have been putting this post off, not because I don’t want to cover it, but because I wanted to give it some extended thought….

IE Ireland

Last week, the Irish Cancer Society released an article under their ‘News’ section detailing some ‘alarming’ findings about who uses electronic cigarettes. After reading this article two or three times, I noted a few items that were a little odd. So I sent them a pretty lengthy e-mail and waited, not expecting a response….

Tobacco companies can’t tell their arse from their elbow

Thought I’d have a stab at making a sensationalist headline for once.  I’ll admit, it needs work. Some work. OK a lot of work, but it sure as hellfire beats the headline gracing the on-line Mirror today….

Nitecore D4 Digi Charger – 27/04/2015 Recall

The products in question are easily identifiable by a spelling mistake on the product packaging – on the bottom left of the front of the packaging “Worldwide” is mispelt “Worldwidc”….

Finally the Science is catching up with e-cig users

If you want to switch completely to vaping, then daily vaping is the way to go – and you’ll need to use a tank not a cig-alike. We all know that!

Well,  finally the scientists are catching up and finding this out too…

‘Vaping leads to smoking’ claim is stubbed out

Behind a paywall but something similar appears here

“The authors have not interpreted their data correctly,” said West, who analyses smoking trends in the British population.

“It is necessary to be able to rule out the obvious explanation that young people who start using an ecigarette and then smoke are not simply the kind of people who would have smoked anyway.”

Five myths about the chemicals you breathe, eat and drink

All too often the use of the word “chemicals” in the news, in advertising and in common usage has the implication that they are bad. You never hear about chemicals that fight infections, help crops grow or lubricate engines. That is because the chemicals doing that job are called antibiotics,fertilisers and engine oil, respectively….

New studies highlight the danger posed by the Tobacco Products Directive

The low rates among cigalike users may be a reflection of the use of e-cigs as a solution to restrictions on indoor smoking, and that many of this group therefore have no intention of quitting. Cigalikes are also often less effective at delivering nicotine, although there is considerable heterogeneity, and it would be unfair to class them all this way….

 Journal Commentary on Electronic Cigarettes..

is a Scientifically Unsupportable Hatchet Job and Fails to Disclose Author’s Conflict of Interest

A commentary that appears in the current issue of the journal Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology demonizes electronic cigarettes, claiming that they are not necessarily safer than cigarettes, that they are a gateway to nicotine addiction and smoking, and that they are not helpful in smoking cessation….

Health Journalists. Ethics & Truth. Don’t Shoot the Messenger.

One can only presume your job is to give absolutely and without question, balanced and truthful information to your readers about facts on whatever subject of health you’re writing on….

Simple talking points on RCTs not being a very useful way to study tobacco harm reduction

I have composed this at the request of Gregory Conley, who recently had the nightmarish experience of trying to explain science to a bunch of health reporters. It is just a summary, as streamlined as I am capable of, of material that I have previously explained in detail. To better understand the points, see this post in particular, as well as anything at this tag. …

What’s in a label?

Labels. Those little morsels of marketing carefully wrapped around a bottle, some of which determine a juice worthy of garnering the word “Premium.” While some think no further than slapping their logo and a couple other details on the label, others spend countless hours (and perhaps dollars), strategically contemplating what label best depicts their line of e-liquid flavors. The sad thing is that several companies are still neglecting to take one minor detail in account during the design process….

Nicotine Science and Policy – Daily Digest – Mon, 27 April 2015