How To Quit Vaping

Bonnie Halpern-Felsher has appeared in Planet of the Vapes’ news articles many times. She produced a literature review that ignored positive studies and relied on exceptionally flawed pieces of work by the likes of Jessica Barrington-Trimis [link], manufactured findings about teen attitudes [link], and claimed adults don’t need flavoured eliquids in order to quit smoking [link].

Doctor Bonnie Halpern-Felsher telling half-truths five years ago

“Brian Lehrer leads the conversation about what matters most now in local and national politics, our own communities and our lives”

Broadcasting live from New York City on 93.9 FM and AM 820 am, the show claims to promote “courageous conversation on air and online”.

The show touted its latest guest: “In the past decade, millions of Americans made the switch from cigarettes to vaping in hopes of avoiding the worst smoking-related illnesses. In the process, many who never smoked cigarettes have found themselves addicted to nicotine without strong guidelines on how to quit. Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, PhD, FSAHM, professor of paediatrics/adolescent medicine at Stanford, and founder/director of the Stanford REACH Lab, explains how we got here and shares medical advice on how to quit vaping.”

The American Vapor Manufacturers called Halpern-Felsher’s outpourings “scaremongering bunk” and urged all involved to reflect on their part in the diabolical episode.

The American Vapor Manufacturers commented: “We have critiqued a lot of erroneous and irresponsible coverage of vaping but the towering volume of unadulterated bunk from Bonnie Halpern-Felsher Stanford Reach Lab on the Brian Lehrer Show this week may have set a record. You can do better, WNYC.

“In just a 20-minute segment, Halpern-Felsher couldn’t seem to go more than a few seconds without a coffee-spitter falsehood, all credulously encouraged by substitute host Kousha Navidar. Here’s some howlers in just the first five minutes:

• Nicotine causes cancer - (Completely false)
• Vaping contains coronavirus droplets - (Totally untrue)
• E-cigarettes contain cannabis - (Nope, different product entirely)
• “Third-hand vaping” on “couches, floors, and toys…and is toxic to pets.” - (Nope)
• Vaping “causes lung collapses, asthma, and bronchitis” – (Zero evidence of this)
• Any e-cigarette device can have several packs of cigarettes worth of nicotine – (This is wrong again)

“Like a clown car at the circus, more lunacy just kept popping out – each more absurd than the last. It never seemed to occur to Navidar that she was making it all up on the fly:

• “Just the flavours themselves clog up the lungs” – (Absurdly untrue)
• “Some young people are vaping the equivalent of 600 cigarettes a day” – (Ludicrous fabrication)
• “E-cigarettes hurt their lungs and their ability to ride bike or jog more often than even cigarettes” – (Demonstrably false)
• Vaping “is more addictive than heroin or cocaine” – (Drug war agitprop, also false)
• Vaping “is more expensive than regular cigarettes” – (Laughable) 
• Vaping “contains cancerous chemicals” and “volatile organic chemicals” – (More agitprop)

“Halpern-Felsher alluded to unspecified studies and "some people I've talked to" but in fact her claims about these supposed harms are contradicted by, variously, FDA and NIH and JAMA and NEJM and UK NHS among innumerable others.

“But there’s an even deeper problem than the deceit itself. That’s because a huge body of research also shows that when smokers are bombarded with manipulative mistruths like hers - they continue to smoke cigarettes!”

The American Vapor Manufacturers went on to provide Brian Lehrer, Kousha Navidar and the WNYC producers with an extensive list of experts and evidence refuting Halpern-Felsher’s wild claims.

Photo Credit:

• Author, with AVM logo added

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

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Dave 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.