Politicians are Repeating CDC Propaganda, Word for Word, in Pushing Vaping Bans

What I have been predicting for the past few weeks is now coming true, as the CDC propaganda campaign about how electronic cigarettes are leading to a lifetime addiction to smoking is now being repeated - verbatim - by politicians who want to ban vaping in public places.

According to an article in the Orange County Register:

"On Tuesday night, the council voted 8-0 to have City Attorney Charles Parkin find ways to amend the City Code to regulate the trendy electronic cigarettes just like traditional tobacco products. ... “We’re not banning them, we’re not asking them to be sold in our city, what we’re asking for is a standard that we already enjoy with tobacco users,” said John Edmund, chief of staff for District 6 Councilman Dee Andrews, in a presentation to the council. ... “Many teens who start with e-cigarettes may be condemned to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine,” Edmond said."

The Rest of the Story

When I presented on electronic cigarettes at the TMA conference in October, I criticized the CDC director for a series of statements indicating that electronic cigarettes are a gateway to youth smoking. I argued that there is no evidence to support such a conclusion and so the CDC director should not be telling the public that e-cigarettes are a gateway to a lifetime of addiction to cigarette smoking, as he was doing. The director of CDC's Office on Smoking and Health responded by arguing that the CDC director's comments were inconsequential, that few people saw these comments, that I was drilling down to dissect the comments inappropriately, and that no one was going to pay attention to them.

Today, we learn that politicians are now taking Dr. Frieden's statement - word for word - and using it as reputable evidence to support vaping bans.

Here is what the chief of staff to Councilman Andrews was quoted as saying:

"Many teens who start with e-cigarettes may be condemned to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine."

And here is what CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden stated:

"Many teens who start with e-cigarettes may be condemned to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine and conventional cigarettes."

Last week, I wrote: "At a recent TMA conference on electronic cigarettes, a CDC official defended Dr. Frieden's statement on the grounds that: (1) It was merely a "slip of the tongue"; and (2) it was inconsequential because very few people saw it. Apparently, this slip of the tongue, which was disseminated nationwide through more than 50 media outlets, will have no impact on local public health organizations. However, based on today's rest of the story, it appears that this unsupported statement may in fact be leading local public health practitioners to further disseminate this misleading information."

After today's story, I rest my case.