Expert Addresses Academic Irresponsibility
Expert Clive Bates has written to Dr Maxime Boidin about “generating irresponsible publicity based on false interpretations of unpublished data”
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by Dave Cross
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Last week, Planet of the Vapes published an article about fake claims made by Matt Roper, the Daily Mirror’s Senior Features Writer, and Dr Maxime Boidin, Senior Lecturer in Cardiac Rehabilitation at the prestigious Manchester Metropolitan University. The Mirror posted its shock horror tale online, and promoted it using multiple tweets, irresponsibly claiming that vaping could be as dangerous or even more dangerous than smoking.
In the Mirror’s article, Boidin claims: “Vaping may be more dangerous to the body than cigarettes - putting long-term users at risk of dementia, heart disease and organ failure.”
One by one, experts in harm reduction and vape related research came out to criticise the Mirror, Matt Roper and/or Maxime Boidin. Clive Bates has written directly to Boidin, copying in the University’s Head of Governance.
Clive pleads with Boidin to cease the promotion of his work prior to a credible scientific process having run its course. Clive notes that despite no paper being published or peer-reviewed, Boidin’s study has received considerable coverage.
Bates delivers a blistering ten-point barrage.
Firstly, simply, most importantly: “You have not published the study, and from the reporting, it seems you have not even completed it. There is no published paper, pre-print, protocol, trial registration, or even conference abstract. There is no information on the participants, how they were selected and their smoking history. Nor have you disclosed competing interests or funding information. Yet, you are making alarming statements to the media about the findings of a study no one else has seen. It is unethical and unacceptable to conduct science in this way.”
Next, Clive highlights that the claim the vaping might be more dangerous than smoking holds no water – it runs contrary to “a large body of evidence that shows that this claim is false”.
“Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence,” he adds, “but you have not provided any evidence, let alone enough evidence, to support this claim.”
Without any detailed information about the kind of experiment Boidin has been running, we all have to make assumptions, to wit Clive continues: “One can speculate that you have been measuring the acute cardiovascular effects of nicotine use and nicotine withdrawal. Nicotine is a well-known stimulant with a well-known effect of arterial stiffening. You have drawn conclusions from measurements in fairly unusual experimental conditions (acute nicotine withdrawal and temporary fasting). This effect is common to many forms of stimulation, and it is not directly linked to long-term cardiovascular outcomes.”
In his letter, Clive continues by pointing out that Boidin is evading scrutiny by making these statements without showing his work and that his background in Sports Science does not lend him the expertise to counter risk assessments detailed in the government’s Office of Health Improvement and Disparities (Nicotine Vaping in England, 2022) and the Royal College of Physicians (E-cigarettes and harm reduction: an evidence review, 2024).
Read Clive’s outstanding rebuttal in the link below.
References:
- Irresponsible publicity related to an unpublished vaping study - https://clivebates.com/papers-and-letters/irresponsible-publicity-related-to-an-unpublished-vaping-study/
Photo Credit:
Image created by author with logo added, Bates image added
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.
