More COVID-19 Dishonesty

Article from Planet of the Vapes
More COVID-19 Dishonesty | Planet of the Vapes

Posted 9th March 2020 by Dave Cross


Last week, Planet of the Vapes reported how Chinese academics are lying by linking vaping to the COVID-19 outbreak. Shortly afterwards, Stanton Glantz, U.S. Mayor Bill de Blasio, and a World Health Organisation’s Dr Alexey Kulikov jumped on the bandwagon to spread disinformation and fear.
A number of ardent anti-vape crusaders have been quick to try to profit from fear and misery, yet again ignoring evidence and facts as they seek to pursue their ideological agenda in their war against tobacco harm reduction.

Over the last couple of years, Stanton Glantz has been debunked, had a paper retracted for academic malfeasance, and suffered the ignominy of being found guilty of committing sexual harassment at work. If anybody thought that this would slow down his output of effluent, they were sorely mistaken as he tells the public: “Reduce your risk of serious lung disease caused by corona virus by quitting … vaping.”

Based on absolutely no evidence of note, he writes: “When someone’s lungs are exposed to flu or other infections the adverse effects of smoking or vaping are much more serious than among people who do not smoke or vape.”

His strongest evidence comes from a couple of mouse studies, where “infection would seem to correlate with the population level data in young adult humans,” but unfortunately this isn’t borne out in the real world where thousands of vapers have reported reduced incidents of colds and flu. [link]

Foundation for a Smokefree World’s Charles Gardner, PhD, responded: “Yes. This is a thing. Smokers should quit smoking to reduce COVID-19 risk. The problem is when an activist, with a recently retracted paper, goes one step further and claims, based on no evidence, that the same is true for vapers.”

The truth is that PG vapour, historically, has been pumped into schools, hospitals and military barracks and led to 90% reduction in infections. [link]

Glantz’s piece was leapt on by the bored housewives of New York, Parents Against Vaping (PAVE), as they gleefully and uncritically retweeted a link to Glantz’ article.

Then New York Mayor De Blasio strode into the fray. The man who has scant understanding of science shamelessly lied to a press conference: “People who smoke or vape are at higher risk. If you are a smoker or a vaper that does make you more vulnerable. If you are a smoker or a vaper this is a very good time to stop that habit and we will help you.”

The misinformation network sprang into action, and Dr Alexey Kulikov, a World Health Organisation External Relations Officer and Non-communicable Disease UN Task Force employee spouted on social media: “Mayor Bill de Blasio (Fighting every day to make New York the fairest big city in America) outlines most vulnerable conditions to #COVID19: age 50 and above, #NCDs - cardiovascular disease, respiratory illness, #cancer, and #diabetes. Specifically exposed those who use #tobacco and #vape. #coronavirus”.

So taken with his cleverness, he sent a picture of his tweet to Dr Moira Gilchrist, VP at Philip Morris International, as a personal message – without any further comment.

Gilchrist asked the obvious: “No need to slide into my DMs. Happy to have a conversation with you out in the open. I’m not sure why you, a representative of the WHO, are sending me personal advice from the NYC Mayor. Is this the official position of WHO?”

Kulikov didn’t respond. Kulikov never responds; for people like him this is a game of trolling those he thinks are his enemies. The very last thing Glantz, Kulikov, De Blasio and the PAVE mothers care about is the health of the public.

That’s probably incorrect, they care about truth, facts, and evidence even less. If they did then they might have read the paper [link] showing the potential anti-viral nature of vape: “Specifically, in e-cigarette users, the IFNɣ antiviral pathway and influenza-specific IgA levels were reduced were significantly reduced following infection with LAIV. Considering the role of IFNɣ and downstream signaling molecules in recruitment and activation of lymphocytes, e-cigarette use may impair the adaptive antiviral immune response.”

 

I happened to catch the news at 22:30 on Thai Channel 3 last night. There was a guy from Mahidol University complete with poster and all say that vaping helps the spread of Covid-19. My understanding was that he said if you inhale the vapor deep into your lungs, the vapor will collect the virus and as you exhale the virus will be spread to others and make them sick. Did anyone else see this? My Thai language skill is not strong. I could not find anything on a couple of Thai news sites this morning. Go figure!

 

Apparently, a French study suggests nicotine might help reduce Covid-19 by an incidence of 5. Vape on !!!

French researchers to test nicotine patches on coronavirus patients