***** The FDA Should Tell the Truth *****
July 4, 2010
Wrongful Death:
Protecting the Profits of the Nicotine Addiction Industry
The FDA report, according to experts, was not based on traditional scientific methodology, is not peer reviewed, and the methods used to obtain the data were obviously chosen to produce the desired negative findings. The language used was also carefully selected to evoke much the same results as yelling FIRE! in a crowded theater: blind, irrational panic.
But, and quite literally in this case, there is no fire and there is no smoke. What is left is evidence of a carefully planned campaign of misinformation, created by high-paid corporate lobbyists and delivered by a government agency, the only purpose of which is to protect the profits of the tobacco companies, the pharmaceutical companies, and the tax revenue for the state and federal governments. This lucrative revenue stream can only be guaranteed by sustaining a large population of addicted nicotine junkies within the established markets which, unfortunately also condemns almost half a million Americans every year to misery, illness and death, smokers and non-smokers alike.
Electronic cigarettes represent a serious threat to all these major financial interests. The reason is easy to understand. They deliver the nicotine desired by smokers, by a method which replaces the toxic smoke with a water-based solution of ingredients which the FDA has certified as GRAS (generally recognized as safe), and offer the very familiar sensation of smoking without the 4,000 chemicals found in tobacco smoke.
They are completely fire-safe, tobacco-free, produce only a mostly odorless and colorless vapor which is 99% water, 100% non-toxic to humans and pets, does not deposit the too-familiar layer of tar residue on everything in the area, and leaves none of the usual smokers litter of smoldering cigarette butts, partially burned tobacco and ashes, either in ashtrays or all over the sidewalks, streets, and gutters.
Likewise, they threaten to totally destroy the Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) industry which, with the gum, patches, inhalers, and prescription medications, rakes in millions of dollars every year, with the FDAs blessing, despite the little-publicized failure rate of somewhere between 93% and 95%. Rather than offering a real alternative to smoking and threatening the profits of the tobacco companies, the NRT industry actually serves to intercept those individuals who are desperately trying to get off cigarettes and then, after making their share of the profits over the several weeks or months of the so-called therapy program, they return these thousands of Americans to the cigarette counter line to continue killing themselves while making others rich.
As columnist George Will wrote in a June 18, 2009, Washington Post op-ed editorial, every year tobacco kills more Americans than did World War II [plus] more than aids, c*caine, her*in, alc*hol, vehicular accidents, homicide and suicide combined." And thats every year, year after year. [To be continued]
July 4, 2010
Wrongful Death:
Protecting the Profits of the Nicotine Addiction Industry
The FDA report, according to experts, was not based on traditional scientific methodology, is not peer reviewed, and the methods used to obtain the data were obviously chosen to produce the desired negative findings. The language used was also carefully selected to evoke much the same results as yelling FIRE! in a crowded theater: blind, irrational panic.
But, and quite literally in this case, there is no fire and there is no smoke. What is left is evidence of a carefully planned campaign of misinformation, created by high-paid corporate lobbyists and delivered by a government agency, the only purpose of which is to protect the profits of the tobacco companies, the pharmaceutical companies, and the tax revenue for the state and federal governments. This lucrative revenue stream can only be guaranteed by sustaining a large population of addicted nicotine junkies within the established markets which, unfortunately also condemns almost half a million Americans every year to misery, illness and death, smokers and non-smokers alike.
Electronic cigarettes represent a serious threat to all these major financial interests. The reason is easy to understand. They deliver the nicotine desired by smokers, by a method which replaces the toxic smoke with a water-based solution of ingredients which the FDA has certified as GRAS (generally recognized as safe), and offer the very familiar sensation of smoking without the 4,000 chemicals found in tobacco smoke.
They are completely fire-safe, tobacco-free, produce only a mostly odorless and colorless vapor which is 99% water, 100% non-toxic to humans and pets, does not deposit the too-familiar layer of tar residue on everything in the area, and leaves none of the usual smokers litter of smoldering cigarette butts, partially burned tobacco and ashes, either in ashtrays or all over the sidewalks, streets, and gutters.
Likewise, they threaten to totally destroy the Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) industry which, with the gum, patches, inhalers, and prescription medications, rakes in millions of dollars every year, with the FDAs blessing, despite the little-publicized failure rate of somewhere between 93% and 95%. Rather than offering a real alternative to smoking and threatening the profits of the tobacco companies, the NRT industry actually serves to intercept those individuals who are desperately trying to get off cigarettes and then, after making their share of the profits over the several weeks or months of the so-called therapy program, they return these thousands of Americans to the cigarette counter line to continue killing themselves while making others rich.
As columnist George Will wrote in a June 18, 2009, Washington Post op-ed editorial, every year tobacco kills more Americans than did World War II [plus] more than aids, c*caine, her*in, alc*hol, vehicular accidents, homicide and suicide combined." And thats every year, year after year. [To be continued]
