According to Wikipedia, Tobacco control “is a field of international public health science, policy and practice dedicated to addressing tobacco use and thereby reducing the morbidity and mortality it causes”.
Let me break that down.
Public health science. It also says practice.
Dedicated to addressing tobacco use via public health science, policy and practice.
Thereby reducing morbidity and mortality it causes.
It says mortality, not morality.
If the morality on vaping products doesn’t cease, the mortalities will continue.
Down the rabbit hole.
There are hundreds of organizations dedicated to addressing tobacco use. Those organizations are normally funded, among other things, by tobacco use. The Master Settlement Agreement, taxes, government grants and funding by pharmaceuticals trying convincing researchers to see “their side” so the FDA will trust & approve it are all part of the bigger picture. Don’t want any of them chasing us down the rabbit hole now, do we?
Let us have some tea, shall we?
Tobacco control for the cessation world, involves “approved methods”, counseling, quit lines & other mythical suggestions in tobacco-land such as the always encouraging “quit or die”, you’re not trying hard enough… as smokers travel down the stop smoking hole…
Along come vaping products. Contested? Hot topic? Absolutely. Proof? Yep. Doubts? As far as your fingers can tweet or read in the media in the U.S.A..
It seems simple, really. Less tobacco use by smokers with an alternative in ANY way possible by anyone in the public health field, or by organizations like the Heart, Lung or Cancer associations… would be immediately and swiftly encouraged……well – that, my readers seems to be a fairy tale.
On to “Alice”.
To be balanced there has been some tweeting of vaping products as an alternative. I can’t possibly search for them all, but DID get a “maybe” here in 2015.
@LindaBauld on smoking cessation & harm reduction: let's offer alternatives -maybe ecigs en route to@quitting #tobaccofree
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) June 19, 2015
Here, in 2014, there was “waiting on evidence”.
@H20Vaper I have actually been critic BigPharma, overmedical smoking cessation, agnostic on ecigs waiting 4 evidence. Call off vapist squad
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) July 10, 2014
Smokers falling a long way seem to always land in a hall with many locked doors….and a table appears… with concoctions and promises of cures to the smoker trying to stop with “try me” and “use as directed” and “FDA approved”. What do they feel, those trying so hard?
Shame.
Without success, a smoker is shamed regardless of the method chosen. (That is Tobacco Control training 101, is it not?) Shamed, by everyone and their brother – who have been taught that forEVER.
Frustration.
Despite the EFFORT to cease tobacco use, the tobacco plant has nicotine. The cigarette has -how many other- chemicals that also MAKE tobacco addictive by design. Nicotine itself is not addictive, but the world doesn’t know – because they’ve been taught that as well… so they offer nicotine “replacement” therapies. (Love that word “therapy”).
Disillusion.
After multiple attempts for various reasons – be it poor health, children, mortality sinking in, whatever the personal decision was to try -the quit attempt fails or is aborted and the tobacco control machine turns to spin cycle. Round & round the smoker goes, falling down the rabbit hole.
We don’t know enough -about- long term effects. We know enough despite our own government’s challenge of regulations – we’ve stopped smoking -many accidentally- in a way NO other product or advice has come close to succeeding with on our journey down the hole. We communicate with each other via twitter, facebook and more. Learning daily. Empowered, making an impact.
As for long term effects? Well – we’re not smoking – if it were EXACTLY the same risk – I certainly wouldn’t have a blog.
Know enough, Alice. Make a commitment. Part of the perils of knowing enough is learning as much as you can, without bias and being able to relay that knowledge to others seeking information.
Speaking fluently with truth and conviction, will come naturally.
I think ecigs v unlikely to be as bad but despite enthusiasts' wish, we don't know enough yet abt longterm effects https://t.co/EVvwVmnQ9Z
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) September 2, 2016
Long term:
What is your definition of a long term study?
Supportive & hopeful methods are applied here.
Very glad 4 all of u who have got off cigs by #vaping. I fervently hope ally hope is true. 1/1
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) September 2, 2016
BUT
2/2 But lots denied links bt smoking & harm & it took many decades 4 some of the harm to show. Thus I am optimistic but also cautious
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) September 2, 2016
The Pool of Tears
“Alice swims through her own tears and meets a mouse, who is swimming as well. She tries to make small talk with him in elementary French – but her opening gambit “Où est ma chatte?” (“Where is my cat?”) offends the mouse and he tries to escape her.”
Does @MaloneRuth think it's a better idea to continue smoking for a few decades until all the evidence is in? https://t.co/2OiQqdfE7u
— Elaine Keller (@VocalEK) September 3, 2016
Sounds like the tobacco industry used to: evasive and raising endless evidential obstacles to accepting the obvious. https://t.co/sJy1Mryovw
— Clive Bates (@Clive_Bates) September 3, 2016
Instead of arguing on Twitter, why not learn about the predicate date? As of last month, you weren't familiar w/ it https://t.co/8SiCOdexMy
— Gregory Conley (@GregTHR) September 3, 2016
No, I think what I said was clear without you putting your words into my mouth. https://t.co/fjzfE0OkmO
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) September 3, 2016
That’s the thing about Alice. Clarity. I’m still not sure how clear she is. I need some more tea!
Pig and Pepper
“The Cheshire Cat appears in a tree, directing her to the March Hare’s house. He disappears, but his grin remains behind to float on its own in the air, prompting Alice to remark that she has often seen a cat without a grin but never a grin without a cat.”
.@MaloneRuth I'm curious. What do @ProfGlantz & your @TC_BMJ editorial board think of your approval of #vaping?
— O_O (@AgentAnia) August 30, 2016
I have answered this question : yes. My eye trying to remain on the most deadly products. https://t.co/KJbgptf1aP
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) August 29, 2016
Ruth, @MaloneRuth Since you're editor, #Tobacco Control…
Where can I find addiction to #Nicotine without tobacco #science/#data?— VapingIT, SPE, EEI (@Vapingit) August 23, 2016
I'm not "against vaping" https://t.co/sgsX8GqLrR
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) August 27, 2016
A Mad Tea-Party
“Alice becomes a guest at a “mad” tea party along with the March Hare, the Hatter, and a very tired Dormouse who falls asleep frequently, only to be violently woken up moments later by the March Hare and the Hatter. The characters give Alice many riddles and stories…”
Agitate against vaping? You really don't know my positions at all
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) August 10, 2016
I cannot tell.
Should pharmacies sell e-cigarettes? http://t.co/UqYhDfKuQj
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) August 21, 2015
Yes. That’s where a consumer could choose an alternative to tobacco.
New 'real world' study on use of #e-cigarettes to quit: http://t.co/ngkQURVbTH
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) August 22, 2014
Not sure about you, but the ‘real world’ is where we are using #e-cigarettes instead of tobacco.
@CaeruleanSea Have no doubt many vaping supporters authentic. Wld have wanted to try myself 2 get free. Also think there is corruption 1/
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) April 6, 2016
I’m as authentic as they come. Lorien is also. I troll her more than I troll you. 🙂
#Nicotine delivery from some #ecigs exceeds combustible cigs': new study, implications unclear: http://t.co/BPWr1WGw5D
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) September 1, 2015
Ahhh…. nicotine. That’s another of my blogs.
@Rathmacan @Vaping_Rursus @Twigolet have made position clear. Lots potential, safer than combusts but 2 early 2 be so blithely reassuring
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) March 5, 2015
Potential? Huh. Safer but too early to be so blithely reassuring?
Thoughtful post frm @CaeruleanSea : 4 most people #smoking not a "medical" thing, thus #ecigs shldn't be medicalized:http://t.co/zslzi8yxFI
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) September 22, 2015
See – told you Lorien is authentic. Genuine & approved.
@GMFCfantasy You know I am pretty pragmatic abt #ecigs but I think "95%" claim IS problematic. Proponents & opponents continue exaggeration
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) September 16, 2015
Which are you, proponent or opponent?
Alice, involved in a paper with C. Gartner:
Dueling letters: which one would you sign?
Dueling Letters via @MaloneRuth & C Gartner: #ecigs @WHO Framework & more @CDCTobaccoFree http://t.co/Yc2HwoaBGw pic.twitter.com/zK8YfWfwDk
— VapingIT, SPE, EEI (@Vapingit) April 5, 2015
Important new longitudinal study suggests #ecigs DO INDEED help smokers quit, esp those using ecigs daily: http://t.co/euxd28c72z
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) October 21, 2014
In 2014, DO INDEED was capitalized for emphasis. I appreciate that.
Advice from a Caterpillar
I appreciate the fact that “Alice” is willing to engage with most on twitter. As you know, most of her colleagues will block and never engage.
Simon Chapman and Stan GlANTZ are two examples of (legaleeze: may, might, could) conniving denying monkeys. (Haven’t blogged Capewell or McKee yet.)
Everyone tweets something they regret at one time or another. We’re all human -except the jury isn’t in on @Entropy72 yet.
This is where I was actually shocked at you. I know from another – personal experience when a professional diagnosis became a lawsuit to a “commoner”. Thing is, we’re professionals just like you. All walks of life, including mental health.
As an old psychiatric nurse, I'm impressed at how many of you seem 2 know such a lot about what it is like 2 b be mentally ill
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) September 5, 2016
You took your well deserved lumps.
You are right. My apologies for that tweet. https://t.co/VO5XOjjiNY
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) September 5, 2016
Then you did it again…….
I'm not sure I get the distinction you are making but I think it is possible it could be both https://t.co/SYwwvvKUxj
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) September 6, 2016
I couldn’t tell if you were joking on this one any more than I can tell your true position on less harm with vaping products.
So off we go to the final chapter of Alice In TobaccoLand…
(Update November,2019)
How charming, @TC_BMJ — a cartoon making fun of people who've died from black market THC products after being misled by @CDCgov
Now it's fodder for tobacco control jokes. Haw haw haw
I guess @MaloneRuth sees the humor, but I don't. pic.twitter.com/VIHkmXiTTu
— Jim McDonald (@whycherrywhy) November 26, 2019
Then you did it again.
My sincere apologies for the cartoon that appeared in the Lighter Side in @TC_BMJ , which was insensitive and inappropriate, especially in the current context. I don't remember screening it, but I must have, and I bear full responsibility. @whycherrywhy @CaeruleanSea
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) November 27, 2019
Alice’s Evidence
The Queen shouts her familiar “Off with her head!” but Alice is unafraid, calling them out as just a pack of cards, just as they start to swarm over her.
If you mean #vaping, interest bc it's a hot topic. Much more interested in #cigarettes & I worry eyes off that ball https://t.co/PcSZXODuCn
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) September 9, 2016
You engage with anecdotal vapers quaintly without making a statement. Teetering on a picket fence without committing. Rocking back and forth. A dangerous line of indecision. I strongly suggest focusing your eyes on the alleged ball, Less tobacco use for the public. I imagine the implications of a “well respected by her peers” professional like yourself facing one of two possibilities.
- You’ll be ostracized by them by merely stating the emperor has no clothes. (Think of the thousands of twitter friends you’ll gain!)
- You’ll empower them to take the stand with you, realizing the potential of millions of smokers very lives hang in the frustrating and disillusioned balance.
Either way, you can’t win, I suppose. Indignant irreverence for your own chosen profession, recognizing the “public” in public health and the public it intends to serve -at least at face value- is unacceptable.
You yourself are a Professor, a nurse, an environmental activist. The Editor of BMJ Tobacco Control Journal. You cannot convince me you’re set on sitting in the middle in a rocking chair on a fence. Being pragmatic <–(funny that link mentions a unicorn) is “real-world application”.
I am the real world. This is not a guessing game, and lives are at stake. TAKE your eyes “OFF the ball” of tobacco for a moment. Vaping products are being regulated, restricted, taxed & banned as if – tobacco control’s livelihood – is at stake. Rather than being accepted as one way to become the end game, it is the ball they have become.
Speak to colleagues – some who are active tobacco control members around the world, all who have professional titles. They aren’t some rogue set of flunkies, they are your counterparts. Colleagues. Each are aiming for the same goal. Tobacco harm reduction. Here, at M.O.V.E..
Once you’ve done so, you can decide which this is. Real harm reduction, where you can join other members of M.O.V.E. and take a stand publicly against the fire and brimstone establishment – who don’t like to be tested….
Or grab a match… pick your poison… and let the cards fall where they may.
I invited you to the A Billion Lives premier, you respectfully declined. (I was serious.)
I KNOW they’re going to be in California, I hope you go. Take Glantz with you.
I'm afraid I'll be far from Milwaukie then, but if I weren't, I'd consider it
— Ruth Malone (@MaloneRuth) July 7, 2016
Finally, If I’ve offended you in any way, shape or form, good.
Check Clive’s “Memo to public health grandees: vaping, vapers and you”
for reference.
You shouldn’t be offended, though. Did you see what I wrote about Simple Simon Chimpmanzee?
.
I hope you don’t block me and we’ll continue learning from each other.
It is about health, after all.
Speaking of health, this one’s fresh off the Dick Puddlecoat press:
Desperately Seeking Dictatorship.
Ruth Malone:
Via UCSF
Update 10/22/16:
Ruth has written this
“Yet, e-cigarettes and the burgeoning list of other non-combustible tobacco and nicotine products could represent potential leverage for accomplishing what once seemed unthinkable: phasing out combustible cigarettes, the single most deadly consumer product ever marketed.”
That is in full here:
FIGHT:
THESE are national consumer and industry organizations in the United States who keep US informed.
- American E-Liquid Manufacturing Standards Association (AEMSA)
- American Vaping Association
- CASAA – The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association
- National Vapers Club
- NOT BLOWING SMOKE
- Right to be Smoke-Free Coalition
- Smoke Free Alternatives Trade Association SFATA
- The Vaping Militia
- Vapor Technology Association
E-cigarette Research is HERE.
MORE e-cigarette research is also HERE.
If you are a Medical Professional go HERE.
More to come.
Keep ON #Vaping On.
Kevin
Thanks,. Tina! 🙂