Dr Farsalinos – A Cat At Night
Dr Konstantinos Farsalinos appeared on the Cats At Night podcast with John Catsimatidis.
-
by Dave Cross
Share on:
John Catsimatidis began the interview by laying out (what he saw as) the facts of vaping. He stated as fact that there is a problem of “epidemic proportions among kids here”, and that he saw the use of ecigs as “an entry way into smoking cigarettes…”
Dr Farsalinos interjected: “I have to disagree with your assessment, we haven’t seen any epidemic yet – but, of course, I remain cautious because I haven’t seen the latest data that the FDA has seen because they haven’t released them publically.”
“Of course, ecigarettes are a hot topic in the United States. Only a few months ago, I published in the Journal of Preventive Medicine an analysis of the 2015 Youth Tobacco Survey, evaluating e-cigarette use. The 2015 survey is crucial because, until the 2018 survey, 2015 was the year of the highest rate of smoking amongst adolescents.”
“The proportion of never-smoking adolescents in the U.S. who are ever using e-cigarettes is 0.2%” – Dr Farsalinos
“The proportion of never-smoking adolescents in the U.S. who are ever using e-cigarettes is 0.2%. The proportion of never-smoking adolescents in the U.S. who are regularly using e-cigarettes [vaping 20 days of the past 30 days] is 0.3%.”
“In my opinion, these numbers do not justify the term epidemic” - Dr Farsalinos
Catsimatidis came back to the doctor, saying that he has seen reports, “something that the FDA is sitting on, some evidence,” that the FDA know of a 75% year-on-year increase in high-school student vaping.
Farsalinos responded: “This is exactly the data I mentioned before that we have not seen, but if you think about the numbers that I mentioned – 94.5% of never-smoking kids have not used an e-cigarette in the last 30 days. So, if we increase the numbers [vaping] by 200%...not 75%...we will still have 86% never-smoking kids that have never used an e-cigarette in the last 30 days.”
“This is a very strong emotional debate because everyone cares about kids, but we need to clarify something: public health is a science of mathematics and calculations – not emotions. Whenever we make decisions we always measure the benefits or potential benefits and the adverse or potential adverse effects. We look at where the balance lies and, based on this balance, we make decisions – we never make decisions focussing ONLY on one population subgroup.”
“You can increase 0.2% by 75% and you are still below 0.4%!” - Betsy McCoy
Betsy McCoy, the resident health expert replied to Dr Farsalinos: “I’d like to congratulate the doctor because he’s actually looking at the numbers. A 75% increase when you’re dealing 0.2% shows that it’s still not an epidemic. You can increase 0.2% by 75% and you are still below 0.4%! So, thank you very much for pointing that out, doctor.”
Dr Farsalinos went on to mention the fact that tobacco stocks rose by $20 billion after the FDA’s recent announcement to combat ecig sales and flavours, highlighting how their actions can impact the health of the nation. Then, he moved on to highlight the historical drop in teen smoking rates, to which Betsy agreed that removing vaping or placing blocks in front of smokers stands to reverse that trend.
Also, Farsalinos pointed out that it’s important to know the truth, something the FDA is wholly comfortable with. “Half the truth is not really the truth,” he added.
Finally, Dr Farsalinos touched on the potential gateway effect but how those who engage in vaping are the adolescents prone to undertaking risky behaviours.
“If my son or my daughter were going to smoke, I’d very much prefer them to use an e-cigarette instead of smoking tobacco cigarettes.”
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.
Join the discussion
Parliament Fears Two
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs faced questions from a Conservative MP and, oddly, a member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
-
by Dave Cross
Harm Reduction For The Rich
The United Kingdom risks becoming a harm reduction country only for the wealthy, according to Michael Landl of the World Vapers’ Alliance
-
by Dave Cross
Sacrificing Health For 2p Cut
Tory Government alienates vaping voters with its mission to cut tax by an unaffordable 2p to attract voters by placing a tax on vape products in the forthcoming budget
-
by Dave Cross
Parliament
Andrea Leadsom has been quizzed by Rupa Huq and Derek Thomas about the promotion of vaping and support to those who want to quit
-
by Dave Cross
