FDA CDC again grossly misrepresents NYTS e-cig youth usage data to deceive, scare and lobby for FDA deeming reg

[Bill Godshall]

Yesterday, CDC issued a press release that once again misrepresented cherry picked NYTS e-cig data and withheld cigarette smoking data to deceitfully imply e-cigs are addicting nonsmoking youth (despite no evidence that any nonsmoker has ever become a daily e-cig user) and to lobby for FDA deeming regulation that would ban >99.9% of e-cigs and give e-cig industry to Big tobacco.
More than a quarter-million youth who had never smoked a cigarette used e-cigarettes in 2013 | Press Release | CDC Online Newsroom | CDC

Despite evidence indicating that >99% of e-cigs have been consumed by smokers (and by smokers who switched to vaping), and despite no evidence that any nonsmoker has become a daily e-cig user, CDC is once again trying to deceive the news media and the public to believe that e-cig are addicting lots of nonsmoking youth, that many/most e-cig users are nonsmoking youth, and that e-cigs are gateways to cigarette smoking.

Need to obtain and analyze the full text the article CDC published in Nicotine & tobacco Research to see how badly CDC misrepresented the NYTS survey data and to see what more important NYTS survey data CDC refused to release and/or refused to acknowledge in its fear mongering press release.

 

[Bill Godshall]

I've obtained the full text of the CDC's study that purportedly was published in the new issue of Nicotine and Tobacco Research, but that isn't cited on the journal's webpage at:
Table of Contents

The key finding reported from CDC 2013 NYTS in the study found (similar to all other surveys) that youth who ever smoked cigarettes were 23 times more likely than never smokers to have used an e-cig in the “past-30-days” (6.9% vs .3%), and were 22 times more likely than never smokers to have “ever used” an e-cig (20.2% vs .9%).

But the CDC's study abstract and the CDC press release both failed to cite those critically important findings in order to further deceive the public to believe that e-cigs have addicted many nonsmoking youth, that many/most e-cig users are nonsmokers, and that e-cigs are gateways to cigarettes.

Just as important, the CDC's study and press release both failed to report the decline in youth smoking from 2012 to 2013 because doing so would have exposed the CDC's false and misleading insinuations that e-cigs are gateways to cigarettes and are renormalizing smoking.

If anyone wants the full text of the CDC's study, please send an e-mail request to billgodshall@verizon.net

 

[Bill Godshall]

The only news article I've seen citing CDC's press release claims about e-cigs and youth was
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...are-much-more-likely-to-try-tobacco-cdc-says/

If anyone sees others, please post.

Since there wasn't much news coverage, I expect CDC Director Tom Frieden and CDC OSH Director Tim McAfee (who recently submitted his resignation) to contact major TV networks and magazine reporters to do exclusive interviews (just as occurred last year).

 

[2coils]

I wonder if CASAA, AVA and other pro vaping groups will put out their own press release exposing the continuing lies from the CDC. Though, surely, any Press Release from "our" side will not hold weight with media or any regulating body.

There has to be a way to get this nonsense to stop!

 

[bobrob]

Saw this one on The Hill:

thehill.
com/policy/healthcare/215883-cdc-kids-jumping-right-to-e-cigarettes

And US News & World Report:

health.
usnews.com/health-news/articles/2014/08/25/number-of-young-non-smokers-who-tried-e-cigs-tripled-in-2-years

 

[Kent C]

If anyone sees others, please post.

https://www.google.com/webhp?tab=iw...0CBQQ1S4#q=cdc+e-cigarettes&tbm=nws&tbs=qdr:w

 

[roosterado]

These Health ORG's that supposedly occupy the Moral High Ground seen to be really lacking in morals

 

[Kent C]

These Health ORG's that supposedly occupy the Moral High Ground seen to be really lacking in morals

Quite common for those who profess it - the 'we know what's best for you' and 'we REALLY care' crowd.

 

[dragonpuff]

Got this one by email:

http:
//cir.
ca/news/e-cigarette-use-among-youth

It looks like this story's blowing up everywhere now let's all prepare for more arguments with people who saw it on the news......

 

[Bovinia]

Vox.com had an article this morning with the same youth fear mongering, but I can't seem to find it now.

 

[dragonpuff]

I have read the study (thank you Bill!) and would like to point out some glaring flaws/misrepresentations contained within it:

Included in their findings, of middle and high schoolers who never smoked, 0.9% have ever tried an e-cigarette, and 0.3% have used one in the last 30 days. The numbers in this context make sense - they are very low, which we expect.

They took these figures from their sample (which was about 43,000 students) and extrapolated to the whole population - what they are calling a "weighted population estimate" - to get the 263,000 shock value number. In other words, they didn't feel like the percentages were quite misleading enough, so they used the percentage to come up with a whole number that looks more scary. It is unclear which percentage they used to come up with this number - they simply don't say how they computed it.

Also, they included 12th graders in the survey, which means they undoubtedly counted a number of 18 year olds. However, they only had kids list their grade level, not their age, which means we will never know how many kids of legal age ended up in this study. To make matters worse, for their final analysis they lumped all high schoolers together, so we can't even estimate how many 12th graders there were!

Other issues:

- They defined "current use" as use any time within the last thirty days, but fail to distinguish between habitual (i.e. daily) use, and those who simply happened to try the product in the last month. This definition intentionally misleads the public into believing that all "current users" are addicted.

- As I stated earlier, they associate intent to smoke with past e-cig use, but fail to account for whether that intent was present before e-cig use was initiated. In other words, they are attempting to make it look like e-cig use increases the likelihood of future smoking, when in reality that likelihood probably existed before (and likely predisposed the individual to try e-cigs to begin with).

- They disclose no conflicts of interest, when it is clear that there are some to disclose.



In summary, the latest CDC survey is another disturbing, mashed up cluster of misinformation, carefully crafted and designed to deceive and manipulate the unsuspecting masses. To those who have yet to read this glorified perversion of science as we know it, enjoy!

 

[DrMA]

NYTS data are freely available for download and analysis. I challenge all ethical public health experts with a genuine commitment to reducing smoking to download, analyze, and publish their own results for these public data, as well as contrast their analyses to those released by CDC.

 

[Bovinia]

live.wsj.
com/video/e-cigarette-use-triples-among-the-youth-2014-08-27-121155247/272CFF3B-63CF-4820-B5CF-02824911C4EF.html#!272CFF3B-63CF-4820-B5CF-02824911C4EF

Video - E-Cigarette Use Among Non-Cigarette Smoking Youth Triples - WSJ.com

 

[Kent C]

live.wsj.
com/video/e-cigarette-use-triples-among-the-youth-2014-08-27-121155247/272CFF3B-63CF-4820-B5CF-02824911C4EF.html#!272CFF3B-63CF-4820-B5CF-02824911C4EF

Video - E-Cigarette Use Among Non-Cigarette Smoking Youth Triples - WSJ.com

Just a month ago it was 'Doubles'!!..... so one more 'never smoked' teen must have tried an ecig

Can't wait for next month's headline

 

[dragonpuff]

live.wsj.
com/video/e-cigarette-use-triples-among-the-youth-2014-08-27-121155247/272CFF3B-63CF-4820-B5CF-02824911C4EF.html#!272CFF3B-63CF-4820-B5CF-02824911C4EF

Video - E-Cigarette Use Among Non-Cigarette Smoking Youth Triples - WSJ.com

I watched this video for the first minute and 15 seconds. As soon as the interviewee responded to a question of what regulations there are on e-cigs with "None. It's the wild, wild west out there!" I couldn't take anymore. I don't want to lose my lunch today.

 

[NorthOfAtlanta]

I watched the rest of it, flavors, gateway, we don't know and the rest of the usual script. Added FUD at the end about death and disease.

She got her training as an analyst for this firm:

gqrr.
com/GQR/clients-advocacy/

Check out their client list.

 

[bigdancehawk]

Got this one by email:

http:
//cir.
ca/news/e-cigarette-use-among-youth

It looks like this story's blowing up everywhere now let's all prepare for more arguments with people who saw it on the news......

I lost count at several dozen and my browser froze.

 

[twgbonehead]

CDC apparently put out a poster. Can't link back to the original source, but look at this:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/media-general-news/597504-get-ready-fallout.html#post13996482

(Sorry to link to my own post, but that's the only way I could find it on ECF)

 

[fishj]

My very thoughtful health insurance company (Health Alliance) sent out wellness tips and one page is devoted to THINK E-Cigs ARE SAFE? THINK AGAIN. Some respiratory therapist at this company says,"E-cigs may seem safe and some think the fancy designs make a fashion statement. But inhaling nicotine and other chemicals is not safe, and the fumes can cause breathing problems for people with asthma and other diseases." The article goes on to say that e-cigs do not address habits associated with smoking. Then it says that liquid nicotine causes vomiting, seizures, and more, and then it talks about poison control and children and pets,etc. It even states that e-cigarettes are marketed for teens, mainly. The article then goes on to contact cdc.gov and fda.gov to learn about the "horrible dangers" of e-cigarettes.

 

[dragonpuff]

My very thoughtful health insurance company (Health Alliance) sent out wellness tips and one page is devoted to THINK E-Cigs ARE SAFE? THINK AGAIN. Some respiratory therapist at this company says,"E-cigs may seem safe and some think the fancy designs make a fashion statement. But inhaling nicotine and other chemicals is not safe, and the fumes can cause breathing problems for people with asthma and other diseases." The article goes on to say that e-cigs do not address habits associated with smoking. Then it says that liquid nicotine causes vomiting, seizures, and more, and then it talks about poison control and children and pets,etc. It even states that e-cigarettes are marketed for teens, mainly. The article then goes on to contact cdc.gov and fda.gov to learn about the "horrible dangers" of e-cigarettes.

Fumes? Really?? Sounds like they think it's best for you to buy marginally effective and overpriced nicotine gum from one of the pharmaceutical companies they're in cahoots with. Or maybe they think you should get a prescription for a potentially dangerous drug so they can barely cover the cost for it and you have to pay out the nose directly to the pharmaceutical company anyway for their overpriced poison. Gee, that sounds like a great idea!