When Authority Speaks Without Understanding: Why Some Doctors Still Don’t Get Tobacco Harm Reduction @alexwodak.bsky.social @melissasweetdr.bsky.social @squigglyrick.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/09algor/...

This simple: The magnitude of the lie *pushed* on the American public by billionaire Mike Bloomberg millions has no parallel: - "whole new generation addicted to nicotine"? - "popular, especially among youth"? - "gateway to smoking"? - "they target teens"? For some reason, no one fact checks him.

2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey found daily nicotine vaping among US middle & high school students 2024 was just 1.4%! ie youth vaping ranks equal to or below: Smoking: 1.4% THC vaping: 4.2% THC vaping or smoking: 4.9% Daily nicotine vaping only: 0.5% tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/2026/03/a-ne...

Global Youth Tobacco Survey of 13 countries.: "There has been a shift in tobacco use patterns, moving from smoked tobacco to e-cigarettes and poly-tobacco use." For SOME reason, the WHO portrays this #HarmReduction as alarming. tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/earl...

MUST READ. In Singapore, if you quit smoking "the wrong way" you will be caned, fined and imprisoned.

Either: (i) Evil Big Tobacco got whole new generation in US addicted to nicotine; OR (ii) Big Public Health duped you into believing their lies @chancethegardener.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social

MUST READ.

A new study reports youth using e-cigarettes “to get high from nicotine.” That caught my attention. “Getting high” doesn’t reflect how nicotine is actually experienced. And when such language is wrong or misleading, there are consequences. See my new Substack: substack.com/home/post/p-...

Nicotine e-cigarettes help more people quit smoking than other common cessation aids. A new overview of 14 systematic reviews (109 studies) finds the evidence is clear and consistent – not 'mixed', as sometimes claimed. Led by @angeladwu.bsky.social

Dr. Michael Siegel, a public health expert specializing in tobacco control, joined us this week on the pod to examine the complex landscape of e-cigarettes and harm reduction strategies. Listen to the full episode anywhere you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/eyZoIY14KUY

The amount of #JunkScience now coming out of the tobacco control field is shocking. They are capable of proving rain falls up, kittens are reptiles, and triangles have four sides...

Smoke-free nicotine product opponents saw how flagrant dishonesty worked so well for so long for Big Tobacco (eg denying smoking causes cancer) & now emulate these tactics. Shameful. @jgitchell.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social

"Whole new generation addicted to nicotine" is a whopper of a lie. Both the NIH MTF survey & NIH/FDA NYTS show the same thing: US teen use of ANY nicotine product has dropped to a 50-year low. Daily use is near zero (daily use is often used as a proxy for dependence in tobacco control research).

A New Generation of Youth are Getting Addicted to Nicotine Through Vaping? FAKE NEWS tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/2026/03/a-ne...

From CDC/FDA reports: 9% of US teens binge drink causing 4,000 teen deaths every year. 1.4% of teens vape nicotine daily; 2.1% vape frequently. No deaths (despite what you may read in #ClickBait scare stories on social media). www.fda.gov/media/191362... www.cdc.gov/alcohol/unde...

Daily use is a key criterion for Nicotine Dependence Disorder in the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-5 (the "bible" of substance use disorders). Daily use is often used as a proxy for dependence in tobacco control studies. So: Behold the "whole new generation addicted"

Call me crazy, but I don't think public risk perceptions are very rational when it comes to "just think of the children" fears. Teens should not vape or drink. Some do. The one they do least, that is (by far) the least harmful, is the one that evokes the most #MoralPanic.

1/ Are e-cigarettes effective for quitting smoking? We just published a “review of reviews” in Addiction looking at 14 systematic reviews (109 studies) + mapping the evidence base. Here’s what we found 👇

US teen use of ANY nicotine product has dropped so low you need a magnifying glass to see it. And yet, the entire field of tobacco control continues to try to whip up irrational #MoralPanic about teen nicotine use... As if they fear for their job security. 😧 www.fda.gov/media/191376...

So in USA in 2025, 3.8% of high school students used tobacco/nicotine products frequently (20+ days out of the last 30 days). Almost all of this was e-cigs (3.1%). Cigarettes were at 0.3% !! Nicotine pouches at 0.6%. Wow!! Lets help the 30+ million adult smokers to quit. tobaccocrst.org/data-briefs

Nicotine e-cigarettes are linked to higher smoking cessation rates than traditional nicotine replacement therapies, with quit rates 20% to 40% higher over at least six months. doi.org/hbtzqg

Dr. Michael Siegel, a public health expert specializing in tobacco control, joins the pod this week to examine the complex landscape of e-cigarettes and harm reduction strategies. Listen to the full episode anywhere you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/eyZoIY14KUY

Forbes/Statistica data on US cigarette sales (annotated by me): The 140 year long Age of Cigarettes is ending, and almost no one knows it. Original image source goes up to 2018. I added CDC NHIS data through Q4 2024, and projected from there to 2035. www.forbes.com/sites/niallm...

Bloomberg Narrative Theology: •although US per capita consumption ⬇️ >60 years, cunning Big Tobacco could renormalise smoking any second •although Big Tobacco shares extraordinary ⬆️ including last 30 years, tobacco control had them by their cojones @jgitchell.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social

I have two goals: Reduce preventable DEATH and reduce teen nicotine USE. These goals carry different moral weight (use changes; death is final). I share official government surveys (e.g., CDC, NIH) and peer-reviewed evidence. Here is what is ACTUALLY happening in the USA:

I assume CDC & FDA are not informing the public of this good news because they're in post-DOGE chaos. But their silence is still reprehensible/ They should inform the public that adult use of deadly cigarettes and teen use of ANY nicotine product have both dropped to an all-time low.

Smoke-free nicotine products are much safer than deadly cigarettes. PMI knows over a billion people on Earth are addicted to deadly combustible (smoked) tobacco products. That's not going to change overnight. But I have to hand it to them: They ARE shifting their products from deadly to safer.

Big Tobacco vigorously denied smoking caused cancer when they knew it did. Big Tobacco Control (eg @profglantz.com) denies nicotine vapes safer than smoking when they knew it is. What’s difference? @jgitchell.bsky.social @chancethegardener.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/09algor/... @melissasweetdr.bsky.social @crikey.com.au @squigglyrick.bsky.social @alexwodak.bsky.social @chancethegardener.bsky.social

The UK is giving 1 million free nicotine vapes to adults who smoke. 58% of recipients quit smoking completely. Former UK colony: 100 million Indians smoke deadly cigarettes or bidis. On the advice of WHO, India banned ecigs but kept deadly cigarettes and bidis legal and widely available... 😕

Imagine if teen use of bicycles dropped 74% over just 5 years. What would you conclude about the honesty or sanity of someone who claims "bicycles are popular with teens"? Welcome to the weird world of tobacco control where teen use can drop 74%, and "experts" STILL claim "popular with teeens."

Sales of combustible cigarettes in Japan fell >50% within 7 years of heated tobacco products going on legal sale. This is unprecedented anywhere else in the world & happened without support from government @chancethegardener.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social

US teen "current use" of e-cigarettes has dropped 74% since 2019. Only 1 in 20 now experiment "at least one time in the past 30 days." Only 1 in 71 vape daily (1.4%). But anti-vape zealots continue to claim "teen use is rising," "epidemic," and "whole new generation addicted." i.e., THEY LIE

MUST READ...

Well done, Charles. Here is my post on my analysis with recommendations on how best to accelerate progress (save more lives!) going forward: bsky.app/profile/cdou...

Teen use of deadly cigarettes dropped 90% after 2011, to near nil. Teen nicotine vaping dropped 74% over the past six years to a 12-year low. This IS what CDC/FDA surveys show. All good news. But this good news is an existential threat to thousands of tobacco control professionals.

FDA just released 2025 teen nicotine vaping, smoking and nicotine pouch use numbers (top left). So I decided to put FDA's graph in a slide with the Y axis set honestly at 100%, rather than 8% (top right). Most kids, BY FAR, do not use nicotine. And that use is dropping (bottom left and right)

US FDA released 2025 teen nicotine vape use data today. US teen nicotine vaping: - down 12% from 2024-2025 - down 74% from 2019-2025... to an 11-year low So can we PLEASE now focus on helping adults quit smoking? You know, like preventing DEATH and stuff?

Polite respectful discussion & debate helps us all to spot errors & adopt better positions. But tobacco control orthodoxy knows it will be annihilated in public debate so ensures debate can’t happen @chancethegardener.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social

Flavour Bans and the Cigarette Rebound: The Evidence Public Health Doesn’t Want to Discuss @chancethegardener.bsky.social @alexwodak.bsky.social @melissasweetdr.bsky.social @squigglyrick.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/09algor/...

Profiting from Harm: How Governments Sell Cigarettes While Blocking Safer Alternatives @alexwodak.bsky.social @chancethegardener.bsky.social @melissasweetdr.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/09algor/...

TWO SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT The one that's wrong is now causing millions of preventable deaths: 1) Dozens of countries allow or encourage people who smoke to switch to nicotine vapes. 2) 38 countries with an average male smoking rate of 32% prohibit nicotine vapes but leave deadly cigarettes legal.

New Evidence Shows Vascular Health Improves After Quitting Smoking - Including When Switching to E-Cigarettes @alexwodak.bsky.social @melissasweetdr.bsky.social @chancethegardener.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/09algor/...

It's a three minute read. Fully referenced if you want to #FactCheckMe.

Big Tobacco lied in the 1990s and earlier. That's proven. Today, however, lies come from a different source. Consider this standard Tobacco Control claim: "E-cigarettes have increased in popularity, especially among youth." #FactCheck: FALSE. Tobacco control is a bit off-the-rails right now.

How many kids are "addicted" to nicotine? First off, American Psychiatric Association (APA) rejected words like "addict" and "addictive" years ago because they are stigmatizing. Tobacco Control is a hold-out. Stigma is one of their key health interventions. (1/12) 👇

Must read commentary by Clive Bates re new @who.int publication on cancer prevention. Instead of WHO promoting harm reduction for tobacco, side with tobacco & nicotine abstinence. Severe reputational damage for WHO years to come! @chancethegardener.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/clivebat...

People often complain, "We have no long-term data on vaping." This is one of the best short videos I have seen explaining why it took so long back in the 1940s-1960 to PROVE cigarettes kill people.. vs. today's powerful predictive toxicology tools. youtu.be/fgKIQHkqZcQ

This updated but also greatly rehashed study has been debunked here: Arielle Selya, arielleselyaphd.substack.com/p/the-update... With additional comments: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/... www.linkedin.com/feed/update/... If you respond, friend, please make it purely substantive and not ad hominem.

Tobacco control & Big Tobacco swapped tactics. Big Tobacco used to deny smoking caused cancer though they knew it did. Now some tobacco control leaders claim vaping more risky than smoking. Welcome new Merchants of Doubt! @chancethegardener.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social