Nursing Prof Stokes Nic Fears
An Arizona University nursing professor is stoking irrational fears of nicotine in her nursing students, and spreading misinformation across the campus
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by Dave Cross
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The question looms large: what purpose do academics like Judith Gordon serve if their work is being done for them, more successfully, by the public simply switching to vaping?
It is a problem that must have weighed on Gordon’s mind as she filled in her application for the funding from NIH. In the ten years her smoking prevention program has been running, the largest drop in smoking rates has coincided with a boom in vaping. Now it’s accelerating faster because of JUUL.
Gordon lays the blame for the popularity of JUUL at the feet of its “trendy flavours”, such as the ever-popular-with-kids Fruit, Mango and Cucumber pods.
Gordon states: “It’s being marketed as the cool, hip, fun thing to do so the rebellious teen spirit decides that ‘oh, I’m going to express that through vaping’.”
Of course, sharp-eyed observers will note that JUUL barely engages in any form of marketing. Almost all of the promotion for the brand is being done for them by the likes of Gordon herself.
Consequently, despite it being a “smoking” prevention program, Gordon now plans on using her $1.5 million to tackle the invented threat of vaping.
“We’re focusing on showing that using e-cigarettes is not cool. Right now, tobacco companies are trying to do what they did with cigarettes 30 years ago, and really marketing them toward youth. We’re also trying as much as possible to provide information about the risks associated with using e-cigarettes.”
- Problem 1: JUUL isn’t a tobacco company
- Problem 2: Tobacco companies are being steamrollered in the US vape market
Moreover, Gordon laughably takes credit for the declining smoking rates: “A lot of the reason that young people don’t smoke is they’ve gotten the message for a long time that smoking is dangerous and not healthy for them.”
Hidden in the lies she is trotting out is this gem: “Nicotine is nicotine no matter what form you get it in and it is highly addictive.”
A 1993 study listed the nicotine content of various foods.
In addition, nicotine is present in caffeinated and decaffeinated green and black teas, peppers, capsicums – and ketchup.
POTV wonders if Gordon will start to target McDonalds, Wendys, KFC and hot dog stands in an attempt to save her students from the nicotine menace? It is a compound with all the harm posed by caffeine, and shown to have potential to help with neurodegenerative, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, and cognitive disorders.
Gordon’s shameful statements will influence students, tomorrow’s nurses and further adds to the confusion about vaping in the minds of today’s smokers.
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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