More COVID-19 Dishonesty
Last week, we reported how Chinese academics are attempting to link vaping to the COVID-19 outbreak – now Stanton Glantz, a US city mayor, and a WHO official are jumping on the bandwagon
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by Dave Cross
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A number of ardent anti-vape crusaders have been quick to try to profit from fear and misery, yet again ignoring evidence and facts as they seek to pursue their ideological agenda in their war against tobacco harm reduction.
Over the last couple of years, Stanton Glantz has been debunked, had a paper retracted for academic malfeasance, and suffered the ignominy of being found guilty of committing sexual harassment at work. If anybody thought that this would slow down his output of effluent, they were sorely mistaken as he tells the public: “Reduce your risk of serious lung disease caused by corona virus by quitting … vaping.”
Based on absolutely no evidence of note, he writes: “When someone’s lungs are exposed to flu or other infections the adverse effects of smoking or vaping are much more serious than among people who do not smoke or vape.”
His strongest evidence comes from a couple of mouse studies, where “infection would seem to correlate with the population level data in young adult humans,” but unfortunately this isn’t borne out in the real world where thousands of vapers have reported reduced incidents of colds and flu. [link]
Foundation for a Smokefree World’s Charles Gardner, PhD, responded: “Yes. This is a thing. Smokers should quit smoking to reduce COVID-19 risk. The problem is when an activist, with a recently retracted paper, goes one step further and claims, based on no evidence, that the same is true for vapers.”
The truth is that PG vapour, historically, has been pumped into schools, hospitals and military barracks and led to 90% reduction in infections. [link]
Glantz’s piece was leapt on by the bored housewives of New York, Parents Against Vaping (PAVE), as they gleefully and uncritically retweeted a link to Glantz’ article.
Then New York Mayor De Blasio strode into the fray. The man who has scant understanding of science shamelessly lied to a press conference: “People who smoke or vape are at higher risk. If you are a smoker or a vaper that does make you more vulnerable. If you are a smoker or a vaper this is a very good time to stop that habit and we will help you.”
The misinformation network sprang into action, and Dr Alexey Kulikov, a World Health Organisation External Relations Officer and Non-communicable Disease UN Task Force employee spouted on social media: “Mayor Bill de Blasio (Fighting every day to make New York the fairest big city in America) outlines most vulnerable conditions to #COVID19: age 50 and above, #NCDs - cardiovascular disease, respiratory illness, #cancer, and #diabetes. Specifically exposed those who use #tobacco and #vape. #coronavirus”.
So taken with his cleverness, he sent a picture of his tweet to Dr Moira Gilchrist, VP at Philip Morris International, as a personal message – without any further comment.
Gilchrist asked the obvious: “No need to slide into my DMs. Happy to have a conversation with you out in the open. I’m not sure why you, a representative of the WHO, are sending me personal advice from the NYC Mayor. Is this the official position of WHO?”
Kulikov didn’t respond. Kulikov never responds; for people like him this is a game of trolling those he thinks are his enemies. The very last thing Glantz, Kulikov, De Blasio and the PAVE mothers care about is the health of the public.
That’s probably incorrect, they care about truth, facts, and evidence even less. If they did then they might have read the paper [link] showing the potential anti-viral nature of vape: “Specifically, in e-cigarette users, the IFNɣ antiviral pathway and influenza-specific IgA levels were reduced were significantly reduced following infection with LAIV. Considering the role of IFNɣ and downstream signaling molecules in recruitment and activation of lymphocytes, e-cigarette use may impair the adaptive antiviral immune response.”
Related:
- “Reduce your risk of serious lung disease caused by corona virus by quitting smoking and vaping”, Stanton Glantz – [link]
- Session B107 - EFFECTS OF E-CIGARETTES AND THEIR COMPONENTS ON RESPIRATORY DYSFUNCTION, INFLAMMATION, AND REPAIR – [link]
- Chinese Coronavirus Chicanery, POTV – [link]
Photo Credit:
Image by Gerd Altmann from 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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