Storm

Storm

Wednesday 15 July 2015

Confessions of a Crap Artist

Something has been annoying me for some time. Yesterday, that came to a head. I woke in the middle of the night with it nagging away so I am going to get it out and Twitter is not good enough.

Yesterday a new research paper was released. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0887233315001228
I am sure most of you have read this by now and am certain that the ANTZ will have done so. How do I know that? Because they have not commented, nor have they run to their pets in the media to twist the results to their agenda.

Now I am not going to write about the paper, no. This is not about one piece of research. This is about ecig research in general or more to the point, the lack of it.

The above research will no doubt be dismissed as it was funded, nay, carried out by BAT. When the ANTZ do comment, as they will have to at some point, they will scream COI and Big Tobacco, not on the actual validity of the research itself.

This is what is really bugging me. Why do we constantly hear “we don't know what's in them” and “there is not enough research” ? In the USA there is a pot of hundreds of millions of taxpayers dollars earmarked for ecig research. Is this money being used on good research such as BAT have just carried out? No it is not. Study after study has been carried out drowning rats in eliquid, asking a few “youths” if they have ever tried an ecig, searching social media for the slightest mention of Vaping and likening ecig advertising to that of 1950's cigarettes. There has been a host of other useless drains on that huge pot of money. One or two almost came close to getting to the truth but with clear intent were twisted to hide the actual results. The Public and lawmakers are being lied to. They see the attention grabbing headlines from “respected” sources and look no further. Science has become a sham. A front for agenda driven groups Worldwide. It is hard to trust any research on any subject now and that is a disgrace.

That huge pot of money could have settled this debate in a matter of weeks with millions left over. Good people are doing good research for a pittance and all they receive for it is dismissal and public shaming.
A message to the ANTZ. Yes Glantz, I mean YOU. BAT have just showed you how to do research. If that does not shame you, nothing will. Read it, replicate it. Find the truth. Otherwise this is for you.

ANTZ “ I want the truth”

Us “You can't handle the truth”


ps. The title is another Phillip K Dick reference. Check the plotline out for relevance.