WHO attempts to censor Clive Bates

As I wrote yesterday, the WHO report released on Monday has been massively criticized this week. As usual Clive Bates delivered one of the most thought through and well written criticisms (http://www.clivebates.com/?p=2350) and posted a letter he wrote to the WHO in response to a public statement made by one of their representatives (http://www.clivebates.com/?p=2355). The WHO has responded to this by threatening to sue him for using a parody of their logo. Please read Carl Philips' post on the topic here: http://goo.gl/rLVcdM. This comes on top of their twitter messages that Dr. Farsalinos commented on here: http://goo.gl/NJYQ9f.

This is the logo that the WHO didn't like

This is the kind of behaviour you typically see in people all out of arguments. They've put themselves in a position where they actually know they are wrong, but are reluctant to admit their mistake cause they are afraid to loose their authority... or they have financial reasons not to admit it. They are all out of arguments so their only option is to spread lies and try to crush the opposition with all means available not caring about the mess they leave behind. My wrecking ball analogy from yesterday seems even more relevant today.

In my honest opinion the WHO are not doing their job very well at the moment. I think Carl Philips says what we're all thinking right now:

If the WHO is so defenseless against criticism that this is the only way they can respond to it, perhaps it is time to replace them with people and an organization that are more suited to their role.

The WHO report: Tearing down the firewall

Two days ago WHO released their dreaded report on E-cigarettes. There is a lot of problems with this report, and although WHOs position is not as bad as it once was there is still a lot of problems like many others have already pointed out:

• The Ashtray Blog has a great article on the topic here: http://goo.gl/mMREwS
• Read Clive Bates' comments here: http://goo.gl/Ztd0JA
• Dr. Farsalinos is as usual spot on in his critisism pointing out that the WHO apparently ignores the health of smokers: http://goo.gl/7hFT1I

The WHO was also active on twitter trying to spread their propaganda after the report was released, something that I think made Dr. Farsalinos (and a lot of others) quite pissed off: http://goo.gl/NJYQ9f.

Notice the snake in WHO's logo?

On Monday I introduced a counterpart to the gateway theory; "the firewall theory". To me it sounds much more plausible that e-cigarettes act as a firewall stopping people who otherwise would have started smoking cigarettes from doing so, rather than a gateway into the deadly habit. Non-tobacco flavours are the bricks of this firewall, innovative technology that distances vaping from smoking is the mortar and it is reinforced by huge health benefits for the users and people around them.

This theory should be like music in the WHOs ears. They are looking at something that not only could be a gateway out of tobacco addiction but could also make a lot less people start smoking. But instead they are doing their best to tear down this wall. They seem completely reluctant to acknowledge that the facts don't fit their precious gateway theory, so they they are now trying to change the facts by banning non-tobacco flavours, banning use in public spaces and trying to convince the public that the health benefits are not there. All of these will make vaping more similar to smoking. Think about it: If kids could only get hold of tobacco flavours, would this make it more or less likely that they switch to cigarettes? If you have to go outside to the smoking areas standing alongside smokers to be able to vape, would more or less vapers switch the wrong way? If all e-cigarettes looks like cigarettes and performs poorly, would that be good or bad for public health?

To me it looks like the WHO report is designed by Big Tobacco and backed up by Big Pharma to make sure e-cigarettes pose a health problem. All of the proposed regulations will make e-cigarettes more dangerous and the gateway theory more plausible. Because the big problem for Big Tobacco and Big Pharma today is that e-cigarettes work, and innovation will make them work even better, building an increasingly higher wall between them and their customers' money. So they've invested in a wrecking ball called WHO to tear down that wall.

CDC says teens love e-cigarettes ... I give you: "The firewall theory"

Yesterday The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released another set of numbers (and lies) claiming to prove their gateway theory: http://goo.gl/BYdvtj. Their numbers, they say, shows that the number of teens that has tried e-cigarettes have tripled from 2011 to 2013 and here comes their punchline: Among non-smoking youth who had ever used e-cigarettes, 43.9 percent said they intended to smoke conventional cigarettes within the next year, compared with 21.5 percent of those who had never used e-cigarettes.

"The increasing number of young people who use e-cigarettes should be a concern for parents and the public health community, especially since youth e-cigarette users were nearly twice as likely to have intentions to smoke conventional cigarettes compared with youth who had never tried e-cigarettes."

This is the conclusion drawn from those numbers by Rebecca Bunnell, Sc.D., M.Ed., Associate Director for Science in CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health and the lead author of the study.

So the CDC have concluded once again that their numbers prove the gateway theory... but in fact it does no such thing. The problem is that they conclude that the e-cigarette use is the reason why these people wants to try cigarettes, but their numbers say nothing about this. It's not possible to know this, at least when you haven't asked the participants that question. In fact, a more plausible explanation is that people who would have tried out cigarettes in any case is also much more likely to try out e-cigarettes. Of course the numbers can't prove this either, but in my eyes it's the more plausible explanation of the two. The CDCs own numbers even supports this as they show that teen smoking rates is declining: http://spinfuel.com/vaping-news/cdc-finally-tells-the-truth/

Let's for a minute assume that the explanation I proposed is the correct one. As a former smoker and current vaper I know that going back to cigarettes is just not something I'm very likely to do, unless forced by regulation. The reason is that cigarettes gives me nothing more, in fact it gives me a lot less, than vaping. Cigarettes tastes, well, like shit compared to vaping, and in addition to this I, and I bet most American teens, know how bad cigarettes are for my health. There is just no good reason to start smoking if you've tried vaping.

Now let's assume the CDC theory is correct, and teens want to try out cigarettes because of their e-cigarette experiments, even if their own numbers shows that this is highly unlikely. Well the paragraph above is still valid. In fact a vaper who has never smoked cigarettes is even more likely to think cigarettes are inferior to e-cigarettes... by far. 

The CDC wants you to believe their numbers support their pre-defined conclusion and their gateway theory. This is not true. Their numbers however are not useless, they might very well give us indications of another, more plausible theory. I give you "The firewall theory": Vaping acts as a firewall that stops teens from taking up the deadly habit of cigarette smoking.

I'm far more worried about the 21.5 of the teens that have never tried vaping but still wants to try out cigarettes, than I am about the 43.9% of vapers that wants to try. And so should the CDC be, but they're not... because their boss has already decided that he hates e-cigarettes (http://goo.gl/MR0txR).

Swedish court bans nicotine e-cigs and e-liquid

The Swedish Administrative court ruled last month that e-liquid and e-cigarettes containing nicotine should be treated as pharmaceutical products and thus needs approval before they can be sold in Sweden (http://goo.gl/FOKjDk).

The Swedish Medical Products Agency (MPA) has been trying to get such a ruling for a while now. In October last year they issued a sales ban on one of the biggest Swedish retailers (http://goo.gl/mIYMm2), a decision that was appealed to the Administrative court. Now the court has rejected this appeal. The court considers e-cigarettes with nicotine to be pharmaceutical products, something that gives the MPA authority to regulate sales.

The MPA says they have a good overview of the big importers and that they will will turn to the import stage, while the municipalities have the opportunity to do oversight of sales in small shops. The MPA hopes that the ban will lead to safer products entering the market and says that today’s products are not proven to be neither safe nor effective (http://goo.gl/VHPYq4, in Swedish). I'm sorry what? This stinks of Big Pharma all the way over to Norway. If the MPA really wants safer products on the market they would definitely not have done this, unless they are incredibly stupid. Honestly I do not think they are that stupid, so this just has Big Pharma written all over it.

However, the sales still goes on in Sweden (http://goo.gl/5pWWhj, also in Swedish) as the ruling has not take effect yet, and the company in Malmö that the MPA tried to stop in the first place has of course appealed again to a higher court instance. The owner says he is considering moving his business out of the country like many others, for example to Poland, Germany or the UK. Selling to Swedes from these countries is no problem, he says. So... it's pretty obvious what will happen in Sweden: People will move their business to another country. And I bet they'll have a thriving black market before long as well. So much for the safer products that the MPA say they want. I bet the MPA is as surprised as I am by the fact that no-one has applied for approval of any e-cigarette or e-liquid product yet.

This is sad news from Sweden indeed. Instead of moving forward, they have taken a step backwards when it comes to the legal status of e-cigarettes in Sweden. So now they have, from what I know and unless the appeal from Malmö goes through, the same status as here in Norway. I've been a bit hopeful lately that Norway would take a step forward and repeal the ban, as some of our governing parties have said they want that, and the Minister of Health says he is open to discuss it. Well that might be just something he says to keep voters happy, but at least it's not all negative. The sad thing is that Norway tends to look a lot to Sweden (god knows why), so I think this court decision might hurt the case in Norway as well, possibly stopping what could have been a great step in the right direction.

Now this all sounds very bad for all us Scandinavian vapers, but I'm convinced that vaping is here to stay. Despite the current legal status here in Norway, we're seeing a huge growth in e-cigarette use, and eventually the politicians will have to give in to the pressure, as science will continue to work in the favour of vaping. To Swedish vapers reading this I'd like to say: Don't panic, you'll be able to continue vaping, just look at us Norwegians. We're doing just fine. And don't give up fighting, your battle isn't even completely lost yet and the war is far from over.

EVUN sends letter to WHO on behalf of European Vaping organizations

The European Vapers United Network (EVUN) have sent a letter to Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO, urging the WHO to view e-cigarettes as part of the solution, not the problem (http://goo.gl/5zHy9h). You can read the whole letter here: http://evun.net/?p=205. The letter is written on behalf of the Independent Vapers’ Associations and Organisations of Belgium, Netherlands, France, Spain, Denmark, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary. I'm happy to see Norway in that list, and I think the people in the Norwegian Union of Vapers (Norsk Dampselskap) are doing a fantastic job making sure Norwegian vapers' voices are heard both in Norway and in Europe.

We are constantly being told that flavours exist only to entice new consumers and especially the young towards smoking. They excite so much fear amongst those who advise you! But listen to our experience, to what we know and understand about these flavours that are so important for us, the adults who use them. They have allowed us to create a distance between the deadly habit we had and the far healthier one we have adopted or are moving towards. It is the presence of flavours, be they bubble-gum or vanilla, that makes the possibility of returning to smoking so unlikely for those of us who have completely adopted the product, because for most of us the taste of burnt tobacco has become nauseous.

This is what EVUN writes about flavours in the letter, and I think it's one of the most important parts. As I've written before (although some might disagree): To quit smoking isn't really that hard... it's staying off the cigarettes that's the hard part. Flavours makes staying off the cigarettes easy for me, and I guess for most other vapers that has quit smoking completely as well. I also keep asking myself: When did strawberry become a flavour that appeals to kids only? Most adults I know love strawberries and cream as much as their kids.