Study Highlights ‘Fear Agenda’ Impact
A study from Georgia State University highlights the deadly impact of the USA fear agenda, as more adults than ever think vaping is as or more dangerous than smoking
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by Dave Cross
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The number of U.S. adults who perceive e-cigarettes to be at as harmful as, or more harmful than, cigarettes has increased between 2017 and 2018, even prior to the national outbreak of vaping-related lung disease and deaths, a study by tobacco researchers from Georgia State University's School of Public Health has found.
The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, augment earlier work by the researchers that found an increase in perceived harm of e-cigarettes relative to cigarettes between 2012 and 2017.
The percentage of adults who perceived e-cigarettes to be less harmful than cigarettes decreased from 29 percent in 2017 to 26 percent in 2018, while the proportion of adults who perceived e-cigarettes to be equally harmful, more harmful, or much more harmful than cigarettes all increased in that time.
In 2018, 43 percent of U.S. adults considered e-cigarettes to be as harmful as cigarettes and 8 percent considered e-cigarettes to be more harmful or much more harmful than cigarettes. This trend was also observed among current smokers of cigarettes, a finding that has implications for smokers' decision-making around switching to e-cigarettes.
"Smokers who perceive too much risk from e-cigarettes may decide against using them to quit smoking and may instead continue with their combustible smoking habit," said Amy L. Nyman, lead author of the study and research associate in the School of Public Health. "The increase in perceived harm of electronic cigarettes may reflect growing concerns about the surge in e-cigarette use among young people, and the subsequent media coverage of the teen vaping epidemic."
Nyman noted that perceived harm of e-cigarettes relative to cigarettes may have increased further since 2018 because of the recent outbreak of vaping-related illnesses, which have resulted in at least 42 deaths nationwide, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
The results are less likely to be related to fears about EVALI, more the distortion of coverage of the lung disease outbreak and procrastination by the Centres for Disease Control led people to believe that it was a vaping-related problem rather than an illegal black market vitamin E acetate/THC issue.
It is shameful that people are being lied to and the fear will keep them smoking cigarettes rather than attempting to switch to something carrying at least 95% less risk.
Related:
- “Perceived Comparative Harm of Cigarettes and Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems” by Nyman et al. – [link]
Photo Credit:
Image by Sarah Richter 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 vape companies to develop content for their websites.
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