Good Grief

“Teenagers smoke e-cigarettes because they deem them ‘cool and fun’, alarming report claims” - makes for an interesting, click bait type headline doesn’t it? So what is all the fuss about? Well as you would expect a new “study” from Canada has been released - with an accompanying op-ed from none other than Matthew Stanbrook, by far the most ideological and idiotic anti-vaper “researcher” there is, who claims that “e-cigarettes are a gateway that must be shut”. More on that later in the post.

You will of course remember a ridiculous “study” from last year (covered neatly by Clive Bates here) that spread far and wide about alcohol being related to e-cig use. That one of course came from up north - Liverpool to be exact, and who do we know in Liverpool that doesn’t like e-cigarettes?

Well it would seem some researchers over in Texas don’t like e-cigarettes much either (to be fair, not many researchers in the US like them, but that’s by the by). Strangely enough, this particular study made it to the journal around the same time as the one from Liverpool. Coincidence? I think not. What is strange is why it is only now getting press-time. By press time I mean an article in the Daily Fail (where else?).

Well, colour me surprised. Yet another “gateway” study from the US. A study that of course generates ridiculous headlines such as - E-cigarettes ’encourage teenagers to try tobacco’: Warning that vaping is a ‘gateway’ after growing numbers try who have never smoked before. Now of course, it is entirely feasible that a never smoker tries e-cigs and then moves on to smoking, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that all kiddiwinkles that try vaping are going to do the same.

There is a strap-line from HM Revenue & Customs - “tax doesn’t have to be taxing” - yet despite their best efforts, if you really want to wade through the system, you are going to have to employ someone with letters after their name. The proles don’t really stand a chance of navigating the endless forms, cross referencing and waiting. Not to mention there are certain rules that need to be followed with regards to things like wage slips, P60 (end of year stuff for UK employees). Yet I’d be willing to bet that many folks don’t wholly realise how much tax they actually pay. Especially when it comes to tobacco.

We had some forewarning of this dropping in the Medical Journal of Australia and frankly I wasn’t at all surprised by the authors of the opinion piece. Rest assured it is an opinion piece there is zero new evidence being bought forward. You could almost call it a review, if you are feeling incredibly generous. But I’m long past feeling generous to the three authors. We all know who they are. The three biggest dunderheaded buffoons that claim to be “experts” in the field.

Trouble is, they’ve not checked it twice. It must be a really slow day for the opponents of vaping, though you would hardly suspect that considering how often this article appears from a variety of seeming unrelated twitter accounts.

It is a common practice unfortunately. A body, be it Government, Education whatever buys a whole bunch of accounts, or engages with someone who can “spread the word”; either way it costs money, to share on social media an article, or a link or some other piece of information, and share it repeatedly throughout a given day or days. We saw it with the whole formaldehyde “study” (which turned out to just be a letter to the editor, not the actual study), it’s happened with the shenanigans on the daft arsed “sugar tax” (and no I don’t agree with that either) and it probably happens on a myriad of other subjects too.

Ah, the wonders of turning from a young adult into a full fledge adult. All those things that you’ve been chomping at the bit to try according to the word of law, rather than the law of common bloody sense are oh so tempting aren’t they? Drinking, smoking, gambling and all that. I wouldn’t class work as a wonder, and besides under 18’s can do that in a limited way so it doesn’t really count.

So there’s a new quack in town that has decided to jump on the anti-vaping bandwagon. Is this quack a respiratory physician? A specialist in the deep, dark and mysterious ways of the lung and airway? A specialist in the effects of cancer or other diseases that have been linked with smoking?

No. Margaret Cuomo (MD) is a radiologist. She specialises in diagnostic radiology. She has published a book - “A World without Cancer” - which (according to Amazon) is fairly popular. I haven’t read it, based on her latest stunt for Huff Post Wise it’s likely to be filled with inane, non-evidence based drivel. But what do you expect? The eldest daughter of former New York Governor Mario Cuomo and former NY First Lady Matilda. The sister of Governor Andrew Cuomo and CNN’s Chris Cuomo seems to give her the idea that she can say anything she damn well likes.

We all know the arguments. Applying restrictions to avoid “potential harms”. Well we’ve seen how ludicrous that is in Wales recently where vaping is to be banned (yes Duckford, it is a ban. You might not think it is you daft old duffer, but it is) everywhere where smoking is currently banned. Ban in workplaces to protect the health of non-smokers & colleagues, ban in public places to, erm protect the health of workers and non-smokers. Ban in playgrounds, erm for the Cheeldren™.

Thanks to a fellow advocate, a new study has been brought to my attention and it is all about the myth that is secondhand smoke or in this case secondhand vapour. It is yet another blatant attempt to persuade policy makers that vaping in enclosed spaces is a bad thing, which we all know is a steaming pile bantha poo-doo.

From the abstract:

Secondhand smoke (SHS) from combustible cigarettes causes numerous diseases. Policies have been developed to prevent SHS exposure from indoor cigarette use to reduce health risks tonon-smokers. However, fewer policies have been implemented to deter electronic cigarette (ECIG) use indoors, and limited research has examined the impact of secondhand exposure to ECIG aerosol.