Post

Stanton Glantz
@profglantz.com

This new paper sums up a huge number of studies that consistently show that kids who start with ecigs are more likely to start smoking (about three times): pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40829950/ And ecigs carry almost as much disease risk as smoking: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38411454/

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govVaping and harm in young people: umbrella review - PubMedPROSPERO CRD42024569728.
Charles A. Gardner, PhD@chancethegardener.bsky.social

Social media is now awash in claims that nicotine vaping is a "gateway to smoking." The people who make this claim don't care what real-world evidence shows, and don't understand that their claim is actually an admission: They KNOW vaping is SAFER (otherwise, why care?).

1 repost1 like

Charles A. Gardner, PhD
@chancethegardener.bsky.social

This paper has been torn to shreds by tobacco control experts Dr. Glantz. As you must know. A systematic evidence review is only as good as what it reviews. All the studies found associations, from which it is impossible to know causation. Associations due to common liability, not gateway.

Stanton Glantz
@profglantz.com

By whom, specifically? Yes, gateway and common liability are separate things. Lots of evidence gateway is real and common liability cannot explain all youth initiation. The papers I cited (separately) go into detail on both issues.

Charles A. Gardner, PhD
@chancethegardener.bsky.social

Thank you. But this still feels like an Emperors New Clothes thing to me. We can all SEE that US teen and young adult smoking have dropped to 50-year lows... But researchers who are #HarmReduction skeptics keep producing studies "proving" vaping is a gateway to smoking.

Charles A. Gardner, PhD
@chancethegardener.bsky.social

And yet, teen cigarette smoking dropped 90% over the past decade to a 50-year low. And among all adults, the age group with the steepest rate of smoking decline is young adults. FYI: You WANT to believe the #JunkScience review you just shared. But "gateway" implies that you KNOW "safer."