One of the best examples of poorly researched journalism I've ever seen

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Trypwyr

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Jul 10, 2009
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:mad:

I cannot post the link, but this is from MSN. I am saddened by the standards, or lack, to which most news outlets hold themselves. Even if the writer did a crappy job at their "Internet search", their editor should have called them on it. This is biased and poorly researched journalism, plain and simple.

I was rather bummed there was no section for comments, I would have posted something juicy (no e-liquid pun intended).

Tryp


health.msn.com/health-topics/quit-smoking/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100241894&GT1=31020


E-Cigarettes: Can They Help You Quit?
Many are skeptical about the look-alikes' claims.
by Dr. Ranit Mishori, PARADE

I recently was surprised to see cigarettes for sale at several kiosks at my local mall. At least, I thought they were cigarettes. Then I discovered that they actually were "electronic cigarettes"--battery-powered puffables that produce no smoke and contain no known carcinogens or tar.

The look-alikes, which are less expensive than cigarettes, are made to re-create the real experience. They're marketed in fancy packages with gold inscriptions and photos of good-looking people "smoking." They produce a vapor that looks like smoke, and the tip glows red as you puff on it. When you inhale, your lungs get a dose of chemicals that typically include nicotine, which gives smoking its kick and makes it addictive. But their biggest advantage, one saleswoman told me, is that electronic cigarettes--or "cigars," "cigarillos," or "pipes" designed on the same principles--help smokers kick the habit.

That caught my attention. I know how hard it is for many of my patients to quit smoking. If there's something new out there to help them, I want to know about it.

Back home, an Internet search turned up thousands of hits and promises: "A great aid for those struggling to stop smoking." "No risk of cancer." "Use anywhere: indoors, airports, hospitals." But I could find no scientific research at all.

Dr. Jack Henningfield, an expert on addiction who serves as a scientific adviser on tobacco to the World Health Organization (WHO), calls e-cigarettes "renegade products" for which "we have no scientific information." The electronic cigarette, he says, is a vehicle to deliver nicotine to the body. Its effects, he says, "are not benign," especially when breathed into the lungs.

While there is a "data void," scientists worldwide question the claim that e-cigarettes help stop smoking. If anything, they worry that these aggressively marketed products could introduce more people to an addiction they never had. Indeed, the WHO has stated that e-cigarettes are not "a legitimate therapy for smokers trying to quit." Dr. Henningfield notes that some manufacturers "blatantly go after young people," advertising e-cigarettes with flavors "like chocolate and candy."
Other nicotine substitutes--the "patch," or gum, for example--are licensed as drugs and require Food and Drug Administration approval. But e-cigarettes, nearly all of them manufactured in China, have not been licensed as drugs or regulated.

Recently, however, the FDA initiated a ban on imports of e-cigarettes on the ground that they constitute unapproved drug-delivery devices (an action being challenged in court). It may take additional measures to restrict their sale.

Without more evidence, we won't know whether e-cigarettes have the potential to do any good or if they really do pose health risks. For now, if you're a smoker trying to quit, talk to your doctor about other, proven methods.
 

Phayah

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Jul 15, 2009
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What about strawberry daiquiris, chocolate liquor, coconut rum, and all those candy flavored alcoholic beverages? Not sure that industry is aimed at young people or children because adults seem to favor sweets just as much as anyone else.

That doc saying - by word of mouth - the effects are "not benign" is the least scientific piece of information I've read about the effects of a PV so far.
 

chad

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Yep, this was first posted here. You're right about shoddy journalism. The most telling part is:
Back home, an Internet search turned up thousands of hits and promises [...] But I could find no scientific research at all.
What a peabrain - glad I'm not his patient.

Anyway, the original article is here and they do allow comments! It'd be a good thing to throw the New Zealand study at him - probably could find it pretty easily during "an Internet search."
 

Shroedingers_Cat

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Jul 10, 2009
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some manufacturers "blatantly go after young people," advertising e-cigarettes with flavors "like chocolate and candy."

So what about Nicotine Gum? - Clearly Nicorette is going after the kids!!! With sweet tropical fruit flavor and cinnamon, they are clearly trying to lure our children into... gum chewing! and stuff...

You know, if you take the burning veggies and paper and tar out of the mix, Nicotine is like a Vitamin (MMmmmm... Vitamin N)

Nicotine:
- Is being researched for the treatment of a number of disorders, including ADHD, Schizophrenia and Parkinson's Disease.
- Enhances the effect of serotonin and opiate activity, producing a calming, pain-killing effect
- Reduces risk of risk of developing Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's disease by up to 50%
- Affects not only weight loss, but also prevents some weight gain
- Can be used to help adults suffering from Autosomal dominant nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy.
- Reduces risk of ulcerative colitis
- Interferes with development of Kaposi's sarcoma, breast cancer among women carrying the very high risk BRCA gene (Save the Ta-Tas!)
- Acts as an anti-inflamitory, interfering with the inflammation-related disease process

Nicotine is not identified as a mutagen or carcinogen.

Check it out:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine#Therapeutic_uses
 

Moonflame

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Jun 27, 2009
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When I started looking into e-cigs I managed to find research on PG inhalation in a matter of minutes. It's been being researched for 70 years and is used by the medical community already. I didn't worry too much about looking at research on Nicotine since I was inhaling that already with cigs. It took that guy longer to type his article than it took me to find research info. What kind of reporting is that?
 
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