Advocate Attacks Public Health Organisations
Doctor, expert, and outspoken advocate for tobacco harm reduction Colin Mendelsohn says that leading health organisations are misleading the public about vaping
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by Dave Cross
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“This misinformation has a real risk of deterring smokers from vaping and perversely may increase smoking deaths. Australians deserve better from leading public health bodies.Tobacco harm reduction,” says Mendelsohn.
The position statement issues a list of disturbing key messages to health professionals. Firstly, it says that doctors should encourage all vapers to quit “as a matter of urgency.”
On top of this, vaping shouldn’t be promoted to smokers because it doesn’t fall under their “evidence-based treatment for smoking cessation”, suggesting that multi-session behavioural support is combined with government-approved pharmacotherapies (varenicline, bupropion and traditional nicotine replacement products).
Rather than use successful switching to ecigs, they believe phone up quitlines are the answer.
“A prescribed nicotine vaping product should only be considered as a treatment option for smoking cessation if first-line treatment has repeatedly been unsuccessful.”
They don’t define how many times traditional approaches have to fail before opting for vaping, just that the Therapeutic Goods Administration “has not approved any [vape products] for smoking cessation.”
Amazingly, they still claim there is a “lack of evidence for their safety, quality and efficacy” of vape products.
“We do not encourage the use of [vape products] for smoking cessation.”
Doctor Mendelsohn states: “The fundamental flaw of this position statement is that it completely ignores the main benefit of vaping nicotine, which is to reduce the harm in adult smokers who are very often unable to quit with other methods.”
They are all ignoring evidence that doesn’t conform to their ideological position.
Mendelsohn continues: “Randomised controlled trials have found that vaping is 50-100% more effective than nicotine replacement therapy (eg here and here). Real world observational studies and studies in large populations also show that vaping is an effective quitting aid. Smoking rates are declining much faster in the UK and US where vaping is encouraged compared to Australia and vaping is a major contributor to this rapid decline.”
He says these bodies are exaggerating small or unproven risks to support their stance. This includes false claims that vaping causes seizures and that it is associated with heart disease.
Mendelsohn cites leading researcher Professor Peter Hajek, who said: “The same effect is generated by watching a thriller or a football match or sitting an exam. Drinking a cup of coffee actually produces a larger response of much longer duration.’ There is no evidence that this leads to any serious harm.”
The Professor concludes: “Regular nicotine vaping is almost exclusively used by former smokers and other smokers trying to quit. The overall scientific evidence is very clear that vaping nicotine is far safer than smoking and could play a valuable role in replacing tobacco and reducing the death and suffering in smokers who are unable to quit with other methods.”
References:
- Australian public health bodies’ position statement - https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/getmedia/cd93970f-7b17-4e35-96f8-665557089f81/Quit-HeartFoundation-Position-Statement-October-2021.pdf
- Leading health organisations mislead the public on vaping - https://colinmendelsohn.com.au/dr-mendelsohn
Photo Credit:
Photo by Joey Csunyo on Unsplash
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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