It's articles like this one from WILX News -- filled with misinformation and insinuation -- that cause most adults who smoke to keep smoking instead of switching to far safer #vaping products. This one, and one from WJXT4, picked up most of the story from an Ivanhoe Broadcast News video.
First they claim "about one of every five high school students vape," but the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey (available to reporters since November 2023) found that just 1 in 10 (10%) of high school students currently vape.
Mr. Bauer, who was interviewed for the piece, was diagnosed with influenza A (the flu) and developed a lung infection that was resistant to antibiotics. No causal link was established to his vaping.
In fact, Bauer's surgeon, Dr. Ankit Bharat, told NBC News that they "can't pinpoint" why he had such a bad infection. Dr. Bharat stated, "One complicating factor is that Bauer had never received a flu shot" and "Bauer’s history of smoking and vaping may also have played a role, though it’s hard to say for sure."
The article goes on to claim that "flavored vapes contain as much nicotine as two packs of cigarettes," followed by explaining that with a pack of cigarettes "22 to 36 milligrams of nicotine will be inhaled."
This claim is meant to capitalize on the fundamental misunderstanding the public (and even many healthcare professionals) has about nicotine. Nicotine may be what keeps people smoking, but it isn't what causes lung cancer, heart disease, strokes and other smoking-related diseases. Those all come from inhaling smoke.
Which brings us to the claim that the "CDC reports nicotine has been linked to at least 12 different cancers." In fact, the CDC actually states that "smoking causes 12 types of cancer," not nicotine itself.
And, of course, no anti-vaping article would be complete without repeating that "Vapes also produce other dangerous chemicals including acetaldehyde, acrolein and formaldehyde."
This is a common anti-vaping narrative that relies heavily on studies that were criticized for overheating e-liquid and using dried out the coils to produce those chemicals, because doing so would make the vapor foul-tasting. As we've said before, this claim is akin to warning the public that eating kale could cause cancer, because if you burn it to the point where it's inedible, carcinogens are created.
This type of irresponsible "journalism" needs to stop. Full stop.
The CDC says your typical cigarette has over seven thousand dangerous chemicals and vaping contains many of the same toxins.
www.wilx.com
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