OPINION: Excellent, "must-read" article by Marc Gunther on the backwards, harmful, unscientific and extremely well-funded war on tobacco harm reduction and adult #vaping!
Check out our highlights thread then go read the FULL ARTICLE (direct link at end) and SHARE!
"Bloomberg Philanthropies used its money and influence to curb vaping, to be sure. But others who have worked for decades to reduce deaths from smoking say the ongoing campaign against e-cigarettes is misguided, built on unsound science and likely to do more harm than good."
"While e-cigarettes & combustible tobacco both contain nicotine...e-cigarettes are much less dangerous...Vaping appeals to smokers who want to quit...Like kids, adult vapers prefer flavors...removing flavored e-cigarettes...deprives adult smokers of a popular safer alternative."
"By contrast, the British government actively promotes vaping as an alternative to smoking while discouraging use by young people. This strategy seems to be working: Use of e-cigarettes is largely confined to current and former smokers."
"Simple in theory but controversial in practice, harm reduction aims to limit the dangers of risky behavior....Harm reduction can be useful when the evidence suggests, as it often does, that abstinence-only strategies like “just say no” don’t work."
"Tobacco-Free Kids...has about 140 staff members and a budget of $34 million...Truth Initiative spends about $100 million a year...Bloomberg...has committed nearly $1 billion...The lung and heart associations and the cancer society all get grants from Bloomberg...."
"Bloomberg: “Just think if your kid was doing this and winds up with an IQ 10 or 15 points lower than he or she would have had for the rest of her life.”
This is, to be kind, a stretch. No reputable scientist believes that e-cigarettes cause a long-term drop in IQ."
“That is a good illustration of the danger of Bloomberg and his money,” says Clive Bates...David Abrams, former Truth Initiative scientist...says: “It’s never justified to distort or misinform the public, even in the service of trying to scare kids.”
"FDA-approved nicotine-replacement therapies, after all, deliver nicotine...to smokers who want to quit....Michael Russell, a British scientist and a pioneer of smoking-cessation treatments, famously said: “People smoke for nicotine, but they die from the tar.”
"The two sides can’t even agree about whether the use...by kids should be called an epidemic. A 2020 survey found that about 1 in 5 high-school students reported vaping in the previous month, but only about 1 in 15 frequently used e-cigarettes...Is that an epidemic?"
"With a presence in every congressional district, the Cancer Society can “mobilize our grassroots volunteers and encourage them to contact their elected officials,” [Cathy Calloway, director of state and local campaigns at the Cancer Action Network] says."
Read the full article (with a free registration) at:
Bloomberg’s Millions Funded an Effective Campaign Against Vaping. Could It Do More Harm Than Good?
