Manufacturing a vaping and heat-not-burn panic, Bloomberg-funded WHO report controversy, Dr. Brad Rodu talks about anti-vaping propaganda, exposing anti-vaping research and propaganda and more!
Scroll to the bottom of this post for a link to the audio/video versions of this post!
RESEARCH // Exposing Anti-Vaping Bias
Using obfuscatory language (ie. “associated with,” “link between,” “predicts initiation,” “increases odds of,” and “association between,”) a study from the anti-vaping group Truth Initiative disingenuously implies that they’ve provided evidence that vaping is a “gateway” to smoking flavored cigars, little cigars and cigarellos. However, the study really only confirms previous findings that youth who are open to trying vaping may also try other tobacco products. Because the study does not disprove that those who went on to smoke would likely have smoked, even if they’d never vaped, only correlation–not causation–is shown.
Well you funded the study so the conclusion isn't a surprise.
Did your study account for "common liability" ?
Does it explain youth smoking rates falling at a record pace since the onset of the vaping "epidemic". Unfortunately, the real world keeps contradicting your studies.— Freedom of Choice (@LanceChurchill) July 29, 2021
RESEARCH // Publishing Propaganda
Researchers admit that the stated goal of their study is to “raise the alarm” over heat-not-burn products as a health threat to teens. However, with less than 1% of students reporting ever using heat-not-burn products, sounding the alarm is not only premature, but it’s unlikely there’s any cause for concern.
“Flavors” are allegedly why teens vape, but tobacco-flavored heat-not-burn products are allegedly going to lure teens in just by looking “white and clear and clean and very modern” and “the design is kind of slick.” Therefore, it seems researchers are just grasping at the most feeble of straws on this one. It’s also important to note that the FDA marketing approval for IQOS requires the manufacturer to show that the product will “benefit public health,” including having low risk of youth uptake.
The U.S. FDA determined that issuing exposure modification orders for the IQOS system, while not risk-free, is "appropriate to promote the public health".#ScientificUpdate 11 takes an in-depth look ➡️ https://t.co/T1kXGSPiNx pic.twitter.com/uTqYpG1uw1
— PMIScience (@PMIScience) October 1, 2020
READ MORE: Heated tobacco products: The next generation of smoke-free alternatives targeting teens
RESEARCH // Teen Vaping Prevention?
Yale has introduced a high tech, virtual reality game version of the 1980’s failed “Just Say No” campaign. It’s certain to work now, right?
The concept: How to be a “nerd” and just say no to vaping…but still get the “cool” older kids to like you.
Truly cringeworthy.
You know the 1980s “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign caused teen drug use to increase, right?
Enlisting teens in your anti-vaping #MoralPanic may just increase their curiosity and make them believe that all their friends are doing it.
What could possibly go wrong?
— Charles A. Gardner, PhD (@ChaunceyGardner) March 26, 2021
READ MORE: Virtual Reality Game Is an Effective Tool for Vaping Prevention Among Teens
RESEARCH // Manufacturing Public Panic
Michelle Minton does a deeper dive into the ABC News “raise the alarm about heat-not-burn teen use” story (the study mentioned above.) In analyzing the study, she mainly finds evidence of just another moral panic “epidemic” in the making.
As usual, it seems those who say they want to reduce or eliminate “tobacco” have no interest in thinking about their role in increasing interest in these products. https://t.co/rjg7AWXpxq
— michelleminton (@michelleminton) July 29, 2021
READ MORE: Tobacco Control’s Latest Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
COMMENTARY // Governments Not Learning From History
R Street’s Mazen Saleh and Chelsea Boyd write about the “pitfalls and consequences” of the Washington D.C. flavor prohibition for the National Review.
If the war on drugs has taught us anything, it is that product bans do not prevent use….Indeed, bans merely disproportionally impact minority communities,
READ MORE: Washington, D.C.’s Foolish Flavored-Tobacco Ban
PUBLIC HEALTH // Anti-Vaping is Anti-Public Health
CASAA director Jim McDonald reports in Vaping360 on the Bloomberg-funded World Health Organization report bemoaning the fact that 84 countries “still have no bans or regulations.” Meanwhile, the report dangerously disregards the clearly positive impact vaping has had on public health where it has been embraced as a harm reduction tool. “It’s the usual set of complaints and lies about vaping, and a reupping of the evergreen list of excuses for the WHO’s own feeble anti-smoking progress,” writes McDonald.
The anti-vaping position of the @WHO raises questions about whether it is sufficiently independent from @BloombergDotOrg. This report makes an unscientific claim about how e-cigarettes lead to smoking and ignores the reality that smokers use them to quit. #philanthropy https://t.co/ujRrQDjjIQ
— MarcGunther (@MarcGunther) July 27, 2021
READ MORE: Bloomberg-Funded WHO Report Doubles Down Against Vaping
PUBLIC HEALTH // Promoting Vaping to Teens
Dr. Brad Rodu shines a light on what CASAA has said for years–tobacco control dramatically and irresponsibly increased vaping curiosity and experimentation with campaigns promoting how popular vaping was with teens, the availability of “kid-friendly” flavors and the ease of hiding devices from parents and teachers. Put simply, it’s becoming obvious to many experts that anti-vaping propaganda did more to lure teens into vaping than any industry marketing ever could.
Vape industry can’t advertise to kids, but anti-tobacco crusaders are doing it for them! https://t.co/cjf5NPogND #vape #tobacco #smoking #ecig pic.twitter.com/NQvR7xlSTL
— Brad Rodu (@BradRodu) July 29, 2021
DO MORE: The Vape Industry Can’t Advertise to Kids, But Anti-Tobacco Crusaders Are Doing It For Them
PUBLIC HEALTH // Exposing Anti-Vaping Propaganda
Seemingly worried that the teen vaping fad will keep declining into 2021, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids representative made the rounds in local news reports this week, continuing to spread misinformation and incite more people into a moral panic over vaping.
E-cigarette use among kids dropped in 2020; Advocates worry it could go back up https://t.co/vy4xQsrSgH pic.twitter.com/xMWnwk8T6B
— WTKR News 3 (@WTKR3) July 30, 2021
E-cigarette use among high schoolers dropped 27.8% in 2020. https://t.co/tXfSrGETev
— Jacob James Rich (@jacobjamesrich) June 9, 2021
DO MORE: E-cigarette use among kids dropped in 2020; Advocates worry it could go back up
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CASAA MEDIA // Podcast
Catch up on past tobacco harm reduction news with Alex and Logan on the CASAA podcasts on SoundCloud every Monday and now live on YouTube and Facebook every Saturday at 3:30 PM.