Science News for Students purports to be a one-stop shop of “age-appropriate, topical science news to learners, parents and educators”. What they fail to explain is why they put across such a blinkered view with certain topics – and why they seem to have a raging butthurt for vaping.
Having a “What are e-cigarettes” feature makes sense, but they have recently published “Teen vaping soars past cigarette use”, “Vaping may threaten the brain, immunity and more”, “The nico-teen brain”, “More data links vaping to smoking”, “Teen data finds vapers often become smokers” and “Vaping may put your smile at risk”.
For a general science website they seem borderline obsessed with putting across negative stories about ecigs, and have failed to cover one balancing article or piece of research. And now they release the best one yet: “High school vapers often become heavy smokers”. There is not one single study that supports such a wild and hysterical statement – it’s an outright lie. The freelance writer (with a Master’s degree in journalism and a Bachelor’s degree in biology) doesn’t appear to have the ability to read around a subject when it comes to a matter of getting paid.
We are used to this, for vapers this is water of a duck’s back. Such as when doctors Oz and Roizen tell people, in their advice column, that vaping damages mouth tissue. “Kill off these cells, and you're more vulnerable to everything from infection to gum disease and perhaps cancers,” they say – but fail to cite a single piece of corroborating data demonstrating rising incidents of gum disease in vapers.
Even the New Scientist, a magazine with a huge reputation for professional integrity, can’t avoid leaping on the bandwagon. “Vapers experimenting with illegal drugs bought on the dark web,” writes Ian Jones. He then continues to add, near the end of the article, “The researchers [on which this article is based] haven’t yet published their results.”
“Vaping recreational drugs poses public health concerns,” Jones adds, even though 95% of Internet traffic doesn’t go to the dark web. Surely this can’t be a ruse set up by the US National Institute of Justice (who are paying for the study)?
It’s as ridiculous as “social media sensation” Cindy Basinski, who was caught hysterically ranting at people in her daughter’s party on a loudhailer: “Who is e-cigging down here? I'm not happy about that!” It’s as daft as the Sunderland resident who says he is avoiding vapers because of the “sickly sweet stench” and “the heady mix of steam, phlegm and sputum floating about”.
Here’s hoping they all resolve to be less overexcited and economical with the truth in 2017.
Photo Credit:
Flurry image - Pixabay
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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