Suddenly, there were hundreds of cases of severe lung injuries in areas around the USA. All the patients had vaped recently.
Yet, millions of smokers had been vaping nicotine for more than 10 years without any cases of these lung injuries.
CDC contradicts their evidence
As a national health authority, the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a responsibility to report on the facts. During the lung injury outbreak, despite the growing evidence that THC cartridges were the cause, the CDC alluded that nicotine eliquid was to blame. They are guilty of confirmation bias.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the CDC advised the public about the facts on the lung injuries. Both released reports on Sept. 6, 2019. It is very clear, when reading the reports that the CDC chose a fear-based narrative about tobacco harm reduction and glossed over THC products that were causing the injuries.
During the outbreak, health-related regulatory bodies, such as the American Medical Association, joined the CDC in avoiding the truth as to the causality of the outbreak. They continued to deceive the public about tobacco harm reduction with the fear-based narratives they have been promoting for years. As a result, health professionals continue to be misinformed about tobacco harm reduction.
In 1998, the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) guaranteed states would receive annual payments from the tobacco industry. These payments are based on a portion of cigarette sales for the year. If smokers switch to vaping, then the states receive less. Utilizing the outbreak, Gov. Baker discouraged the smokers in Massachusetts from switching to a 95% safer alternative source of nicotine, vaping.
Smoking makes people very sick. Sick people are very profitable for the pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical industry is the largest lobbying power in the USA; the oil and gas industry has half the lobbying power of the pharmaceutical industry. This may explain why the US House of Representatives attempted to ban tobacco harm reduction which didn’t cause the lung injuries and promote cannabis use which did cause the lung injuries.
The United Kingdom (UK) promotes vaping for smokers. They are different than most of the world because they reviewed the science on vaping before the global false narrative got to them. The lies were so pervasive that even their citizens became misinformed.
The pervasive misinformation has successfully convinced the public that eliquid is a source of EVALI. The lies convinced 13% of people that vaping is MORE harmful than smoking, The public now demand tobacco harm reduction bans.
For over 20 years, RealClearPolicy has been reviewing US domestic policy and analyzes “the most pivotal information on the day’s need-to-know issues”. They reviewed how the CDC handled EVALI in their article titled, Heads Should Roll at CDC after Botched Vaping Investigation.