Arora Bores The A-List
“Dr” S.K. Arora is boring the top harm reduction experts again with his tediously flawed opinions about vaping and the use of electronic cigarettes in India
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by Dave Cross
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Writing on a social media account, he said: “E Cigarettes are not 100% safe so can't be labelled as Harm Reduction strategy. We should go for Harm Elimination. New study further adds risks associated with e Cigarette/vape devices. Promoting these as cessation device is unethical.”
Posting a tiny American article that resembled a confusing Captcha image rather than a coherent piece of writing, Arora tagged in the Prime Minister of India and the Ministry of Health.
The duplicitous director went on to claim that current policies are working and vaping is not needed. “Current policies are effective,” he said, and pointed to a claimed “35% reduction in current smokers.” Given he fails to link to the data or indicate timescale, this claim stands at odds with the trends in smoking across India.
Public Health England’s Martin Dockrell commented: “Injecting with clean needles isn’t 100% safe, nor is sex with condoms, nor is pill testing, nor is telling people before meeting someone new online, nor is driving 10mph slower, nor is cycling with a helmet on. But I recommend them all strongly. They all reduce harm.”
International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organisations’ Judy Gibson said: “‘E-Cigarettes are not 100% safe so can't be labelled as a Harm Reduction strategy’ might well qualify as the best tautological quote I’ve ever read. Actually it’s likely more a fallacious argument than tautology (utter bXXXXXXs in the vernacular).”
“E-Cigarettes are considered to reduce harm - not eliminate it. They offer smokers a ‘significant risk reduced nicotine alternative’ compared to the inhalation of smoke from combustible tobacco. Smoke is the killer.”
Andrew Thompson pointed out: “India has been a Party to the World Health Organisation’s Framework for Tobacco Control for over 15 years. As such, it is their obligation to make tobacco harm reduction an integral part of tobacco control.”
Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos took issue with the research content of the clipping regarding the properties of cinnamon when present in e-cigarette liquids. POTV is covering Farsalinos’ response to this research in another article this week; in short, in vitro studies cannot represent a model to understand the cardiovascular effects of e-cigarette flavourings.
Arora wasn’t for turning. He has earned a healthy living and awards from perpetuating his slanted perspective: “Please don't go in literal meaning of Reduction. While dealing with human beings, harm reduction strategy means replacing harmful substance with 100% safe substance and not less harmful substance. Remember smokers are human beings and not Guinea pigs.”
“People think that e-cigarettes act as a cessation device to quit smoking habit, however, they are unaware that it may gradually develop a new habit ending with dual use. May risk to initiate tobacco addiction among non-smokers. Promotion as cessation device is unethical in India.”
Unethical? That would describe the actions of Arora – a man who is happy to lie for money as smokers die from tobacco addiction.
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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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