1. Book reviews Over at Spiked, Dr. Michael Fitzpatrick has two book reviews; one we’ve read (Velvet Glove Iron Fist) and another one that looks as promising (Geoffrey Kabat’s Hyping Health Risks). (See The anti-smoking ‘truth regime’ that cannot be questioned:Two new books expose how epidemiology has been used as a tool of propaganda in the […]
Monthly Archives: October 2009
Recent fine article in SpikedOnline illustrates how the lack of evidence for the effects of 2nd hand smoke is becoming more apparent even as intrusions into smokers’ lives increase. Many of us in tobacco harm reduction go from either being unsupportive of or uninterested in smokers legitimate claims to their habit. On first blush, we […]
Like everyone, I have been using Wikipedia for a quick stop for general knowledge but this may change. As many have commented, the strength of this resource is that everyone has access and if common sense and honesty prevail, and they most often do, the right story will eventually be told. Yesterday, I was looking […]
I suspect that most pediatricians are smarter than their patients, however….. Once again a medical organization, and in specific, a trained doctor is dispensing false information. (Full link to AAP Calls for Tobacco-Free Environments for All Children). There is no safe way to use tobacco and no safe level or duration of exposure to secondhand […]
Subtitled A History of Anti-smoking, Christopher Snowden‘s book Velvet Glove Iron Fist is perhaps the best ever written on this subject, at least the best I have read. Entertaining as well as informative, this book should be in every library. (See the Velvetglove website for excerpts). Though harm reductionists and anti-tobacco activists share the goal […]
Good news from across the pond where Action on Smoking and Health (UK) has released a smart briefing on electronic cigarettes and reiterate their pro harm reduction stance. (Link here to ASH pdf.) ASH supports a harm reduction approach to tobacco, that is, we recognise that whilst efforts to help people stop smoking should remain […]
The above headline comes from a recent Michael Siegel posting (see here). It also demonstrates that many anti-smoking advocates are willing to make personal attacks, accusations, and insinuations — even against their own colleagues — without any evidence whatsoever to support these insinuations. The colleague in question has provided not a shred of evidence of […]
Few bits of good news out there today: 1. Smokers could get nicotine gum on NHS indefinitely. From The Guardian, a citizen’s council (not sure at this point how much influence they actually have) is recommending that the National Health Service provide nicotine replacement products (gum or inhalers) indefinitely instead of the current guidelines of […]
My grandparents were schooled but not educated all that much more than most of the population and for these average people, just past the turn of the century and in Eastern Europe, it was common knowledge that smoking was bad for you. To back up that little anecdotal evidence I also offer the term: coffin […]
Over at Tobacco Truth, Brad Rodu has a great little article (link here) on how the rates of cigarette and other tobacco use by youth have been falling over the last decade. Other than it simply being good news, it is, as he points out, important to be aware of this because harm reduction efforts have been […]
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