A compelling article published last week by The Daily Signal is referring to the numerous biased studies and reports, that are being released left right centre by anti-smoking entities, anti-vaping advocates and tragically, even by the medical community.
The FDA endorses ineffective cessation aides …
Jeff Steir, a Senior Fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C., and head of the Risk Analysis Division, referred to an email he received from NYC Quits. The organization is a statewide tobacco control organization that operates in New York, whose stated goal is that to help smokers quit smoking via free nicotine patches and gum. Oh….. it is also, backed by the state government.
Steir added that the patch could not possibly help anyone quit smoking, as the nicotine is delivered in trace amounts, which could not help anyone satisfy their nicotine cravings. Yet he adds, these products are one of the four cessation aides approved by the Food and Drug Administration; three of these are only available through a prescription. These include Nicotrol NS, a nicotine nasal spray, and Chantix and Zyban, both of which are non-nicotine medications.
… While the effective ones are discouraged
On the other hand, vaping products the preferred cessation aides by smokers, are heavily regulated by the FDA, not to mention condemned by other official entities such as the Surgeon General, even though they have been proven effective when incorporated in cessation programs in countries such as the UK.
The article points out that the FDA’s stance would have been justified had it invested in research pertaining to the products. However instead, the agency has decided to refute any data in favour of the products and regulate them as tobacco products, despite the fact that the products contain no tobacco.
“So people who have tried to quit and failed, and tried to quit and failed, don’t have other choices that the public health establishment supports.” said Steir.
The article points out that the establishment in the United States is being supported by medical research that is funded by Big Pharma. “The prestigious Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic and its Nicotine Dependence Center, for one, has followed the FDA’s lead in calling e-cigarettes a method to avoid due to lack of risk data and “mixed results” of studies so far.” said the article.
Who is the public expected to trust?
Sadly, this is only one of the several examples of how the misinformation about the perceived dangers of vaping are being spread to satisfy financial interests, yet the public will readily accept data that is being released by such “reliable” and official sources. The result? This unsound information keeps being perpetuated, and as a consequence the US is missing the opportunity to start reversing the current health epidemic that was brought about by smoking.
