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Stanton Rants

Bitter opponent of vaping breaks cover and speaks at a conference.

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) journal gushingly fawned over his speech to the NIDCR Clinical Research Fellowship Grand Rounds, at Porter Neuroscience Research Centre, in a piece headed: “Are advocates just blowing smoke?”  The headline is a tip of the forelock to the preposterous anti-vaping campaign being run in California, partially funded and wholly inspired by Glantz’s pharma shill organisation, The Centre for Tobacco Control Research and Education.

The impartiality of the NIH coverage is confirmed at the outset as they describe that electronic cigarettes come in a number of forms and “many of which contain nicotine, formaldehyde and other carcinogens.” All this does is repeat the ridiculous notion that aldehydes are contained in most liquids rather than the accurately report the reliable peer-reviewed findings that formaldehyde is the product of dry burn hits.

By paragraph three, before a single syllable has been recounted from Glantz’ pearls of wisdom, it raises the subject of “ultrafine particles” and infers the ludicrous notion that particulate size dictates anything of note – there is absolutely no evidence it offers any danger over and above that already contained in vapour. A topic the writer returns to at the end by claiming there is such a thing as second-hand vape danger.

The conference Glantz addressed was concerned with the effects of vaping on oral health. Glantz, being wholly ignorant on the subject of dental health and any research appertaining to this subject, was quick to deliver his feelings on the matter: “I think bathing your gums in a hot propylene glycol aerosol of nicotine and heavy metals is probably not good for you.” No science, no journal reference and no deviation from his funding-driven mantra.

He continued by lying about and ignoring all evidence to the contrary: “The main danger of e-cigarettes is that they keep people smoking cigarettes. While some people may successfully quit smoking with the help of e-cigs those people are in the minority. Among all smokers, e-cigarettes are not only not helping people quit, they’re actually inhibiting quitting.”

Data from both the USA and the UK amply demonstrates that smoking rates are plummeting as vaping grows. Even if correlation does not prove causation there is an absence of evidence to support his allegations. Electronic cigarettes have had a huge impact on quit success rates in the UK and research has proven its efficacy too. Hard evidence exists in the States too; it’s impossible to believe he is unaware of it

NIH claims that Glantz has “done extensive research on the cardiovascular effects of tobacco.” This too is a lie. Glantz is not a cardio-vascular medical practitioner, he’s an engineer with a poor degree, and has not completed a single piece of medical research. The work he rests his arguments on have been roundly debunked by the aforementioned Farsalinos – who is a cardio-vascular surgeon.

Harm reductionists will find the Big Pharma man’s pronouncements deplorable and shameful. Is there a way to win him over by appealing to his conscience and using facts? The answer is almost certainly ‘no’ given that he values his personal wealth over welcoming a viable alternative to smoking.

Dave Cross avatar

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 vape companies to develop content for their websites.

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