There's no evidence e-cigarettes are as harmful as smoking (The Guardian)

[Anjaffm]

There's no evidence e-cigarettes are as harmful as smoking

The Guardian, 23 Feb 2015

There's no evidence e-cigarettes are as harmful as smoking | Science | The Guardian

Author:

Linda Bauld is Professor of Health Policy at the University of Stirling and Deputy Director of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies. She is a former scientific adviser on tobacco control to the UK government, and recently chaired the NICE guidance group on tobacco harm reduction.

Professor Linda Bauld takes apart and deftly debunks a recent piece of trash propaganda published in The Guardian by a guy called Nash Riggins, some blogger who also writes for the Huff Post (enough said... ) and who has no flipping idea about e-cigs. (Published in The Guardian, jeez! That trash propaganda would have fit well in the Daily Fail... uhm.. Daily Mail.. an absolute trash publication that loves fearmongering and / or nonsensical screaming headlines and crap like that)

In his recent ‘Comment is free’ piece Nash Riggins claims that vaping is just as dangerous as smoking, and expresses robust support for NHS Boards in Scotland who intend to ban the use of electronic cigarettes when their grounds go tobacco free in April.

The reader might be left with impression that the use of nicotine is simply not compatible with public health aims, and that e-cigarettes should be subject to the same restrictions as tobacco products. However, to reach such a conclusion Riggins overlooks an extraordinary body of evidence pointing to the contrary. Disregarding this evidence could mean missing out on the potential of e-cigarettes to save lives. Let’s look at his assertions.

read on
Excellent article, very reputable author. Can be quite useful. Especially if somebody happens to mention this Riggins guy's trash.

.......
Oh, if anybody intends to look at the original trash propaganda piece by that Riggins guy... my advice: just glance over the Glantzy propaganda piece and go on and enjoy the comments - Best to read the comments from the back, page 14. Many good names, many good links. Clive Bates, D.ick Puddlecote, Bill Godshall (if I remember correctly), and great links in the comments by Lollylube.

By the way: I got a GREAT education on vaping (links, studies, everything) by reading the comments by the British vapers below trash articles. British vaping commenters rock ( ) and the links they post are well worth reading.

.........
And please no penalty for "going around the word filter" for Mr. Puddlecote's name. That is his name

 

[DrMA]

Absolutely brilliant takedown of the Riggins hit-piece from last week.

 

[Harlen]

Way to go
Vape on

 

[Kent C]

Good article. But again, I don't like the fact that 'our guys' have to respond to outrageously stupid attacks without any proof or evidence and in the process of replying, having to drag out the original stupid story - continuing the enemy line - an egregious PR error in any subject. - Coke should never mention Pepsi in their commercials. Or Ford mentioning Toyota, etc. etc. Still, it has to be done with vaping to debunk, and here it was done well.

 

[kakiser56]

Awesome article. The readers' comments are entertaining and informative all at once!

 

[Anjaffm]

thank you, dears
Yes, I love finding things like that - and I bet you do, too

And yeah, the British vaping commenters rock!
I especially love Fergus Mason. When he sees absolute BS comments spouting fearmongering crap, he gives a short response, sets the facts straight and finishes with "stop lying"

This does not mean that I do not appreciate American commenters. I most certainly do. But I do read more stuff from Europe, because that is my home

 

[AndriaD]

thank you, dears
Yes, I love finding things like that - and I bet you do, too

And yeah, the British vaping commenters rock!
I especially love Fergus Mason. When he sees absolute BS comments spouting fearmongering crap, he gives a short response, sets the facts straight and finishes with "stop lying"

This does not mean that I do not appreciate American commenters. I most certainly do. But I do read more stuff from Europe, because that is my home

I find it hard to read the comments, for 2 reasons: there will always be some ignorami who spew the ANTZ party line (pure uninformed garbage!), and even those comments which are in favor of vaping are so woefully misspelled and ABSOLUTELY LACKING in punctuation, that reading them is like trying to navigate a maze -- they make my eyes cross!

I understand that some people are not good at spelling, but punctuation is not optional; its purpose is so that people can understand what you write! If people can't understand it, and the writer cares so little about anyone understanding that he doesn't use any punctuation, why bother writing it in the first place?

Andria

 

[DC2]

I have come to the conclusion that the Brits are miles ahead of us in this entire fiasco.

 

[caramel]

I have come to the conclusion that the Brits are miles ahead of us in this entire fiasco.

Don't worry, you'll get there:

I'm more worried about us

 

[edyle]

It's a terrible article in terms of presentation.;
for the average joe who just scans the big print header words but doesn't read the body of the article itself, it looks like it is saying the reverse of what it actually does say.

E-cigarettes are not safer than smoking
blah blah blah small print
The nicotine in e-cigarettes is dangerous
blah blah blah small print
Electronic cigarette use should be banned in public places
blah blah blah small print