Words, and honesty, matter in communicating public health
advice. Today, survey data in the U.K. and the U.S. demonstrate the effects of
truth-telling versus obfuscation regarding e-cigarettes.
I have previously noted stark differences in the
characterization of e-cigarette use by health authorities in the two countries
(here). Evidence-based assessments by Public Health
England (here)
and the British Royal College of Physicians (here)
encourage smokers to switch to e-cigarettes, while government agencies and
trusted medical organizations in the U.S. obscure the relative safety of
e-cigarettes.
Reflecting the above, new surveys demonstrate that 55% of
adults in the U.K. correctly believed in 2015 that e-cigarettes were less
harmful than cigarettes, while only 26% of Americans held that view (see the chart).
The British survey was conducted by Action on Smoking and
Health U.K. (here). I generated the U.S. numbers from National
Cancer Institute Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) data
(available here). There were minor differences in the wording
of the survey questions, but I think the results are comparable and
informative.
While the U.K. results aren’t ideal, the U.S. results are
deplorable and must be attributed to the misinformation campaign waged by
public health authorities.
Tobacco prohibitionists continue their pursuit of a
“tobacco-free society” or “tobacco endgame”, supported by a regulatory scheme
that transfers hundreds of millions of dollars annually from tobacco manufacturers
through the FDA and NIH to anti-tobacco researchers and institutions (here).
Unlike the U.K., where prestigious medical societies and
experts routinely share the scientific facts about e-cigarettes, there is no
balance in the U.S. to the tsunami of misinformation. Given this, it is remarkable that even
one-quarter of Americans know the truth about e-cigarettes, and that 2.5
million former smokers currently use them (here).
Smokeless tobacco products, chewers and dippers have been targets
of a similar misinformation campaign for 35 years; the HINTS survey
demonstrates the effect of that effort. Asked
if smokeless tobacco products were less hazardous than cigarettes, only 11% of
participants correctly answered “yes,” 67% responded “no” and 22% didn’t know. In other words, 89% of Americans have no clue
that dipping and chewing are 98% safer than smoking. Anti-tobacco propagandists are directly
responsible for this dismal statistic.
Misinformation keeps people smoking and keeps smokers dying.
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