World Physicians Intensify Campaign Against Smoking

[Traver]

This one deserves a few comments. You don't need to register.

World Physicians Intensify Campaign Against Smoking | Voxy.co.nz

I posted but it a comment but it isn't sowing yet.:

Just how is the tobacco industry involved in electronic cigarettes? Perhaps the World Medical Association should take the trouble to become informed about electronic cigarettes instead of touting their ignorance. Electronic cigarettes have become the most popular and effective means to quit tobacco. Why don't they do some studies or at least read the ones that have been done. A far as safety goes I agree the with the FDA it doesn't know anything. Not exactly a convincing argument that lung cancer is a better option. No one including the World Medical Association or FDA or has found anything in quantities that harm us. So they have adopted the argument of if, maybe, could be and we don't know anything. If they really do want to be informed here is a good place to start: CASAA | The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association

 

[Vocalek]

Left this comment:

How can delegates to the World Medical Association be so ignorant of the published research on the relative risks of smokeless tobacco products compared with smoking? Lee and Hamling found that, for studies published since 1990, the RR for smokeless use was 1.28 (CI = 0.94-1.76). This means that no significant oral cancer risk has been detected in users of modern smokeless tobacco products.

Why don't they know that switching to a smokeless product is much more effective at helping smokers stop using the deadliest form of tobacco? Switching as a method for achieving smoking abstinence works well in countries where smokers are told the truth about relative risks--for example Ranstrom and Foulds reported that 66% of Swedish men who used snus as their quit method achieved lasting success. In the U.S. where the government and anti-smoker organizations promote the lie that all forms of tobacco carry equal risk, smokers are not interested in switching.

The AMA and WMA likes to pretend this means that all smokers will quit all forms of tobacco in the near future, but the fact is that most just keep smoking until serious permanent damage sets in. The success rates for government-approved smoking cessation treatments are 7%.

Electronic cigarettes, too, have much higher success, helping a minmimum of 31% of consumers to become abstinent from smoking (Siegel). Several studies show that over 90% of users report improved lung function and elimination of wheezing and coughing. Many electronic cigarette consumers tried 10 times or more to quit using the approved smoking cessation treatments.

There is no evidence that quitting all use of nicotine brings any additional health improvements beyond those engendered by abstinence from smoking.

The WMA is pursuing a course of action to keep smokers on the wheel of misfortune. Smoke, use approved treatments, quit for a while; repeat ad infinitum. Who does this help? It certainly doesn't help the health of smokers.

 

[Ande]

It's not a campaign against smoking. It's a campaign against smokers.

And yes, some days it looks like they just want to kill us.


Ande

 

[BCB]

I left this comment:

"When did your anti-smoking campaign become an anti-tobacco campaign? Was it when people who stopped smoking using non-pharmaceutical products cut into your bottom line? The harm is from the SMOKE. Whether it comes from burning tobacco, wood, fields, or fuels (internal combustion engines). So smokeless products are (by definition) an improvement in healthy living. The tobacco industry is not promoting electronic cigarettes. People use them as an alternative to smoking, and in so doing they STOP smoking, something they were unable to do with the ineffective pharmaceutical products previously available. This really is not complex, just simple logic. Your association should be ashamed that they are not embracing harm reducing smokeless products."

And I agree with you, Ande--the campaign is against smokers.

And I'm sick of it.

 

[Traver]

Good work, we need to keep on posting these comments.

On a side note is anyone interested in the google and Alexia rankings of these sites. For instance this site has a google ranking of 6 and a alexa ranking of 124,083.

Google rank is based mostly on the number of links and searches.
Alexa put more weight on visits.

I have both of these on my toolbar and could easily put the in the post.

 

[Nicko]

I posted this comment :

If the WMA cared at all about the health of mankind they would be encouraging smokers to switch to smokeless tobacco products. The studies have already been done which prove conclusively that smokeless tobacco products are much, much safer than smoking. Electronic cigarettes in particular have helped millions to completely quit smoking. For decades smokers tried the useless patches, gum and prescription meds in an effort to quit. Electronic cigarettes should be embraced and promoted by any medical professional. Not likely to happen though, is it? Not much money to be made from a healthy population.

 

[DC2]

This stuff makes me so freaking mad...

Anybody who has done any research on electronic cigarettes knows that Big Tobacco has nothing whatsoever to do with selling, distributing, or promoting them. So my question would have to be why does the WMA not only appear to be ignorant of this fact, but to actually be claiming the opposite. I find this level of ignorance abhorent. People who are in a position to affect policy, especially a policy that can mean life or death to millions upon millions of current smokers who have been unable to quit, should actually know what they are talking about.