There is something deeply troubling about the latest findings from
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). According to analysis reported by
The
Observer,
54 percent of UK adults and 52 percent of smokers now believe that
vaping is just as harmful as (or even more harmful) than smoking. Among
smokers who have never tried vaping, that figure rises to an astonishing
61 percent.
This is undoubtedly a significant public health failure, as Hazel
Cheeseman (ASH's chief executive) recognises. "For smokers, these
misconceptions have real consequences. If someone believes vaping is as
harmful as smoking, they are less likely to use it to quit smoking and
more likely to stop vaping and return to cigarettes. Both of those
outcomes are far worse for their health."
There is no condemnation of those within the tobacco control community
who have spent years spreading the misinformation that helped create
this situation. According to The Observer, sensational media coverage
of studies highlighting potential risks from vaping, while failing to
provide proper context about the vastly greater dangers of smoking, has
played a major role. Yet those stories have often been accompanied by
irresponsible alarmist commentary from prominent figures in tobacco
control who routinely exaggerate the risks of vaping while downplaying
its potential to reduce smoking related disease.
The result is now disappointingly clear. Millions of smokers have become
confused about one of the most important public health messages of the
past generation.
Professor Jamie Brown of University College London stressed the urgency
of helping smokers quit, reminding us
that
"two out of three smokers will die from a smoking-related illness if
they don't quit, so it's a really urgent public health issue." Surely,
then, those responsible for misleading smokers about safer alternatives
deserve the strongest possible criticism. Instead, the silence is
deafening.
The tobacco control movement has never been reluctant to passionately
campaign for measures such as plain packaging, higher taxes, advertising
restrictions, smoking bans, and the recent generational sales ban.
Despite the benefits of these policies being dubious or unproven,
campaigners have consistently described them as urgent public health
priorities.
Yet here is a problem that directly affects millions of smokers today.
It discourages people from switching away from cigarettes and without
doubt contributes to avoidable disease and premature death. Despite
that, there appears to be remarkably little appetite to confront those
responsible.
Even ASH's own comments don't make the correction of public
misunderstanding its principal demand. ASH's press
release
instead focuses primarily on further restrictions on youth vaping. This
should be a priority considering recent legislation passed by government
such as a huge increase in excise duties for vaping products, threats of
prohibiting advertising and flavours, plus the misguided idea of adding
vaping
to the UK's smoking ban in public places, suggest that many MPs may be
among those who incorrectly believe vaping is as bad as smoking.
ASH estimates that around 370,000 people under 18 currently vape. At the
same time, approximately 3.6 million adults in Great Britain still
smoke. If roughly two thirds of those smokers now wrongly believe vaping
is as harmful as smoking, according to this survey, then about 2.4
million smokers are being actively discouraged from switching to a far
less harmful alternative.
Furthermore, ASH has not published the underlying survey data showing
how many young people who vape were previously smokers. A teenager who
has switched away from smoking presents a very different public health
picture from one who has never smoked. Without those data, it is
impossible to fully assess the public health implications.
The tobacco control community should face serious questions about its
honesty and professional responsibility. Every field has individuals who
overstate evidence or allow ideology to ignore scientific balance, but
their colleagues would normally distance themselves from such behaviour
to avoid losing credibility.
Yet there is a disturbing antipathy to do so in tobacco control industry
circles. If respected organizations now acknowledge that widespread
misunderstanding about vaping is harming smokers, they should also be
prepared to explain how that misunderstanding arose and condemn those
who helped spread it.
Ironically, organisations devoted to reducing smoking have watched
misinformation about safer nicotine products become the biggest barrier
to smokers quitting. Yet many seem very reluctant to call out misleading
claims made by their own allies and publicly shame them for doing it.
Tobacco control leaders should know that misinformation about vaping is
costing lives, so they should name and shame those responsible. They
should also insist that scientific accuracy comes before institutional
solidarity.
Until that happens, smokers will continue wrongly believing that
switching offers no health advantage. With this flood of misinformation
many will continue smoking and preventable disease and death will
continue. In these circumstances, the silence of the tobacco control
community can only be considered as shameful complicity and working
against the ideals of improving health outcomes.
Martin Cullip is International Fellow at The Taxpayers Protection
Alliance's Consumer Center and is based in South London, UK.
