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Saturday, February 14, 2015

North Dakota and "...the perverse effect of prolonging cigarette consumption"

The quote used for the title of this post is from Clive Bates (see this).

Its part of a letter written to the World Health Organization (WHO) on behalf of e-cigarettes and vaping.  The letter is authored by over a dozen health experts from around the world who say "We respectfully suggest that the following principles should underpin the public health approach to tobacco harm reduction, with global leadership from WHO:"

The quote is item #3: "On a precautionary basis, regulators should avoid support for measures that could have the perverse effect of prolonging cigarette consumption. Policies that are excessively restrictive or burdensome on lower risk products can have the unintended consequence of protecting cigarettes from competition from less hazardous alternatives, and cause harm as a result. Every policy related to low risk, non-combustible nicotine products should be assessed for this risk."

Imagine the concept of "unintended consequences" and vaping.

I doubt very much that snuffing out vaping (no pun intended) is an "unintended consequence."

Why?

Look at this article about how the North Dakota legislature has determined that vaping is not a tobacco product.

It seems as if the truth is accidentally leaked out by Rep. Eliot Glassheim: "“The issue is this bill has a definition which preempts these devices as being considered tobacco products,” said Rep. Eliot Glassheim, D-Grand Forks. “It’s a new definition, and it seems to me it’s a stealth way of not being able to tax them in later bills" (underline my own).

Declaring vaping a "non-tobacco product" is "stealth way" of not being able to tax it...?

Hmmmm.

Poor Eliot doesn't seem to have gotten the memo here...

Eliot, please be advised that regardless of how "healthy" vaping might be your lobbyists and cronies will be very unhappy if vaping is not made into tobacco.  However, Eliot, you're not supposed to actual say this.

Instead you are supposed to say "vaping will harm children" or "no one knows what vaping will do" to someone's future. 

Those are the acceptable responses. 

Perhaps the letter, written last year, should be more carefully considered Mr. Eliot.

After all, if someone dies from a smoking related illness, it would seem Mr. Eliot has put lining his pockets ahead of saving a human life.

The signatories to the aforementioned letter, by the way, are as follow:

Signatories this statement at 26 May 2014
 
Professor David Abrams
Professor of Health Behavior and Society.
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Maryland. USA.  
Professor of Oncology (adjunct). Georgetown University Medical Center,
Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Washington DC.
United States of America
 
Professor Tony Axéll
Emeritus Professor Geriatric Dentistry
Consultant in Oral Medicine
Sweden
 
Professor Pierre Bartsch
Respiratory physician,
Faculty of Medicine
University of Liège
Belgium
 
Professor Linda Bauld
Professor of Health Policy
Director of the Institute for Social Marketing
Deputy Director, UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies
University of Stirling
United Kingdom
 
Professor Ron Borland
Nigel Gray Distinguished Fellow in Cancer Prevention at Cancer Council Victoria
Professorial Fellow School of Population Health and Department of Information Systems
University of Melbourne,
Australia
 
Professor John Britton
Professor of Epidemiology;
Director, UK Centre for Tobacco & Alcohol Studies,
Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences
University of Nottingham,
United Kingdom
 
Associate Professor Chris Bullen
Director, National Institute for Health Innovation
School of Population Health,
University of Auckland,
New Zealand
 
Professor Emeritus André Castonguay
Faculty of Pharmacy
Université Laval,
Quebec,
 
Dr Lynne Dawkins
Senior Lecturer in Psychology,
Co-ordinator: Drugs and Addictive Behaviours Research Group
School of Psychology,
University of East London,
United Kingdom
 
Professor Ernest Drucker
Professor Emeritus
Department of Family and Social Medicine,
Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
United States of America
 
Professor Jean François Etter
Associate Professor
Institut de santé globale,
Faculté de médecine,
Université de Genève,
Switzerland
 
Dr Karl Fagerström
President, Fagerström Consulting AB,
Vaxholm,
Sweden
 
Dr Konstantinos Farsalinos
Researcher, Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens, Greece
Researcher, University Hospital Gathuisberg, Leuven,
Belgium
 
Professor Antoine Flahault
Directeur de l’Institut de Santé Globale
Faculté de Médecine, Université de Genève, Suisse/ Institute of Global Health, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Professor of Public Health at the Faculté de Médecine, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité,
France
 
Dr Coral Gartner
Senior Research Fellow
University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research
The University of Queensland,
Australia
 
Dr Guillermo González
Psychiatrist
Comisión de Rehabilitación en Enfermedad Mental Grave
Clínica San Miguel
Madrid,
Spain
 
Dr Nigel Gray
Member of Special Advisory Committee on Tobacco Regulation of the World Health Organization
Honorary Senior Associate
Cancer Council Victoria
Australia
 
Professor Peter Hajek
Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director, Health and Lifestyle Research Unit
UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies
Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine,
Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry Queen Mary University of London,
United Kingdom
 
Professor Wayne Hall
Director and Inaugural Chair, Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research
University of Queensland
Australia
 
Professor John Hughes
Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry and Family Practice
University of Vermont
United States of America
 
Professor Martin Jarvis
Emeritus Professor of Health Psychology
Department of Epidemiology & Public Health
University College London,
United Kingdom
  
Professor Didier Jayle
Professeur d’addictologie
Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers
Paris,
France
 
Dr Martin Juneau
Directeur, Direction de la Prévention
Institut de Cardiologie de Montréal
Professeur Titulaire de Clinique
Faculté de Médecine,
Université de Montréal,
Canada
 
Dr Michel Kazatchkine
Member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy
Senior fellow, Global Health Program, Graduate institute, Geneva,
Switzerland
 
Professor Demetrios Kouretas
School of Health Sciences and Vice Rector
University of Thessaly,
Greece
 
Professor Lynn Kozlowski
Dean, School of Public Health and Health Professions,
Professor of Community Health and Health Behavior,
University at Buffalo,
State University of New York,
United States of America
 
Professor Eva Králíková
Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology
Centre for Tobacco-Dependence
First Faculty of Medicine
Charles University in Prague and General University Hospital in Prague,
Czech Republic
 
Professor Michael Kunze
Head of the Institute for Social Medicine
Medical University of Vienna,
Austria
 
Dr Murray Laugesen
Director
Health New Zealand, Lyttelton,
Christchurch,
New Zealand
 
Dr Jacques Le Houezec
Consultant in Public Health, Tobacco dependence, Rennes,
France
Honorary Lecturer, UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies,
University of Nottingham,
United Kingdom
 
Dr Kgosi Letlape
President of the Africa Medical Association
Former President of the World Medical Association
Former Chairman of Council of the South African Medical Association
South Africa
 
Dr Karl Erik Lund
Research director
Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research,
Oslo,
Norway
 
Dr Gérard Mathern
Président de l’Institut Rhône-Alpes de Tabacologie
Saint-Chamond,
France
 
Professor Richard Mattick
NHMRC Principal Research Fellow
Immediate Past Director NDARC (2001-2009)
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC)
Faculty of Medicine
The University of New South Wales,
Australia
 
Professor Ann McNeill
Professor of Tobacco Addiction
Deputy Director, UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies
National Addiction Centre
Institute of Psychiatry
King’s College London,
United Kingdom
 
Dr Hayden McRobbie
Reader in Public Health Interventions,
Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine,
Queen Mary University of London,
United Kingdom
 
Dr Anders Milton
Former President of the Swedish Red Cross
Former President and Secretary of the Swedish Medical Association
Former Chairman of the World Medical Association
Owner & Principal Milton Consulting,
Sweden
 
Professor Marcus Munafò
Professor of Biological Psychology
MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol
UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies
School of Experimental Psychology
University of Bristol,
United Kingdom
 
Professor David Nutt
Chair of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (UK)
Edmund J Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology
Head of the Department of Neuropsychopharmacology and Molecular Imaging
Imperial College London,
United Kingdom
 
Dr Gaston Ostiguy
Professeur agrégé
Directeur de la Clinique de cessation tabagique
Centre universitaire de santé McGill (CUSM)
Institut thoracique de Montréal,
Canada
 
Professor Riccardo Polosa
Director of the Institute for Internal Medicine and Clinical Immunology,
University of Catania, Italy.
 
Dr Lars Ramström
Director
Institute for Tobacco Studies
Täby,
Sweden
 
Dr Martin Raw
Special Lecturer
UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies
Division of Epidemiology and Public Health
University of Nottingham,
United Kingdom
 
Professor Andrzej Sobczak
Department of General and Inorganic Chemistry,
Faculty of Pharmacy and Laboratory Medicine,
Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland
Institute of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health
Sosnowiec,
Poland
 
Professor Gerry Stimson
Emeritus Professor, Imperial College London;
Visiting Professor, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
United Kingdom
 
Professor Tim Stockwell
Director, Centre for Addictions Research of BC
Professor, Department of Psychology
University of Victoria, British Columbia,
Canada
 
Professor David Sweanor
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
Special Lecturer, Division of Epidemiology and Public Health,
University of Nottingham,
United Kingdom
 
Professor Umberto Tirelli
Director Department of Medical Oncology
National Cancer Institute of Aviano
Italy
 
Professor Umberto Veronesi
Scientific Director
IEO Istituto Europeo di Oncologia
Former Minister of Health,
Italy
 
Professor Kenneth Warner
Avedis Donabedian Distinguished University Professor of Public Health
Professor, Health Management & Policy
School of Public Health
University of Michigan
United States of America
 
Professor Robert West
Professor of Health Psychology and Director of Tobacco Studies
Health Behaviour Research Centre,
Department of Epidemiology & Public Health,
University College London
United Kingdom
 
Professor Dan Xiao
Director of Department Epidemiology
WHO Collaborating Center for Tobacco or Health
Beijing Institute of Respiratory Medicine,
Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital,
China
 
Dr Derek Yach
Former Executive Director, Non-Communicable Diseases
Former Head of Tobacco Free Initiative,
World Health Organisation (1995-2004)
Senior Vice President Vitality Group plc
Director, Vitality Institute for Health Promotion
United States of America


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