Tobacco Control in Your State

[Vocalek]

Find out what the tobacco Control community is up to in your state. On this page, there are links to policies and literature from six states. Tobacco Control Network

I looked at several, and it is disgusting.

Let's lie to them for their own good. We'll do it with half-truths.

From Nebraska: "All smokeless tobacco users increase their risk of developing oral and gastrointestinal cancers."

The half that's true is that smokeless tobacco users have a higher risk than never-users.

However, they "forgot" to mention that smokers who switched to Swedish snus reduced their risk of oral and gastrointentional cancers.
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From Indiana: "Electronic cigarettes are not an evidence-based, safe or effective method for treating nicotine addiction. Smokers wanting to quit should contact a health care provider for assistance and call 1-800-QUIT-NOW for evidence-based advice."

The half that's true is that there is no evidence that electronic cigarettes are effective for "treating nicotine addiction" (i.e., getting people to stop using all forms of nicotine.)

But the topic of the paragraph is "smokers who want to quit." There may not be any published studies in medical journals, but the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming that this works as an alternative to inhaling tobacco smoke for many of the smokers who already tried all that "evidence-based advice."
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By the way, I'm willing to bet a five-spot that if you call up their quit line and ask about the evidence for the effectiveness Swedish snus as an alternative to inhaling smoke, you will not hear the truth.

Ramstrцm, L.M. & Foulds J. Role of snus in initiation and cessation of tobacco smoking in Sweden. Tobacco Control. 2006 June; 15(3): 210–214. doi: 10.1136/tc.2005.014969.

"Among men who used snus as a single aid, 66% succeeded in quitting completely, as compared with 47% of those using nicotine gum (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.3 to 3.7) or 32% for those using the nicotine patch (OR 4.2, 95% CI 2.1 to 8.6). Women using snus as an aid were also significantly more likely to quit smoking successfully than those using nicotine patches or gum. Conclusion: Use of snus in Sweden is associated with a reduced risk of becoming a daily smoker and an increased likelihood of stopping smoking."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2564662/


It works in the US, too.

Rodu B & Phillips CV, Switching to smokeless tobacco as a smoking cessation method: evidence from the 2000 National Health Interview Survey. Harm Reduct Journal. 2008 May 23;5:18

RESULTS: An estimated 359,000 men switched to smokeless tobacco in their most recent quit attempt. This method had the highest proportion of successes among those attempting it (73%), representing 261,000 successful quitters (switchers).

http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/5/1/18

 

[Stubby]

They don't have Wisconsin listed but Smoke Free Wisconsin has the dubious honor of winning the Lie Of The Year award from Michael Siegel's blog for their story claiming e-cigs is a BT plot to get the children to start smoking.

If you do a bit of research you'll find nearly all of the tobacco control organizations are heavily funded by big Pharma. Smoke Free Wisconsin was founded by the Robert Wood Johnson foundation, which is the PR division of Johnson and Johnson, which makes nicotine gum, patches , etc. They have hugh amounts of money they use to fund research, but I haven't found 1 penny devoted to research on reduced harm. When it comes to tobacco If Johnson and Johnson can't make money, it doesn't get looked at.