HERE AND THERE

Not much time to blog lately but so much going on.  Here are some noteworthy articles, blog posts, and forums from the www.  This blog should be more active with analysis and commentary in March.  

  

FDA says your body is a “drug” and subject to gov’t regulation

 How does that make you feel ? 

 

Tobacco plain packs – a protection against the “Silent Salesman”

An ongoing discussion in a British MP’s blog about plain cigarette packaging and so much more!

Sugar 'is toxic and must be regulated just like cigarettes', claim scientists

The campaigns for taxing sugar are getting ever increasingly aggressive.  

The Marginalization of Smokers Benefits Corporate Interests and Conditions the Populace to Accept Totalitarian Policies

An article written by a green socialist author about the corporate interests of smoking bans and smoker de-normalization sparked controversy with some of the members of the party who even called for censorship.  A long but must read article and the comments that follow. 

Raw milk supporters speak out

A farmer faces maximum penalties of $13,000 in fines or 2 1/2 years in jail for selling to customers milk they prefer to consume and willingly buy.

Facebook and Twitter 'more addictive than tobacco and alcohol'

So when can we expect extortionist taxes and public bans on networking? 

Bylaw officers are busy enough

The City of Ottawa has undertaken an aggressive campaign to ban smoking in public parks and patios albeit public opinion is mostly against it.  

The Cleveland Clinic in the U.S.A. (one among many employers) no longer hires anyone who has traces of cotinine (the by-product of nicotine) in their urine.  This policy includes smokers, users of nicotine replacement therapy and e-cigarettes.  A policy that has sparked big controversy.  Read about it here:  Opposing view: Why we won't hire smokers  here :  Not hiring smokers crosses privacy line  and listen to more opposing views here :  Issues around bans on hiring smokers

Now that the precedent was set with smoking, anything and everything can be compared to it to create the necessary emotional effect.

Sitting can be more dangerous than smoking, study shows

The Met Office and the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit now declare that there hasn’t been any global warming in 15 years! 

Forget global warming - it's Cycle 25 we need to worry about

LES PRODUITS NICOTINIQUES INEFFICACES

Malgré qu’elle n’est pas la première étude qui trouve que les substituts nicotiniques n’ont pas plus d’efficacité que du placebo pour arrêter de fumer, les résultats d’une étude récente de Harvard a eu l’effet d’une bombe dans le milieu anti-tabac et pharmaceutique.  Comment est-ce que Harvard, en l’occurrence le co-auteur Greg Connolly, un anti-tabagiste notoire, a pu publier une telle étude qui remet en question tout le dogme de la dépendance à la nicotine et qui peut compromettre de décennies de recherches et des politiques sur le tabac?

Pour notre part nous nous demandons plutôt pourquoi qu’il a attendu six ans après la fin de l’étude pour la publier.  En effet, son étude a été complétée en 2006 et a été rendue publique en 2012.  Six ans et beaucoup d’argent dépensé sur des produits inefficaces ont écoulé depuis, pourquoi?

La réponse se trouve peut-être dans le fait que Connolly a donné sa démission auprès du FDA en tant que conseiller scientifique au tabac à la fin de l’année 2010 pour des raisons pas trop clairement exprimées mais qui laissent entendre qu’il avait des différents avec certaines opinions et politiques du FDA et qu’il considérait que son ouvrage était susceptible d’avoir plus de valeur de l’extérieur plutôt que de l’intérieur de cette organisation . Lire  FDA loses two top members .  Cela en dit long sur les politiques du FDA et la liberté des scientifiques de s’exprimer ouvertement. 
 
Si les produits nicotiniques sont inefficaces et plusieurs études avant celle-ci le confirment aussi, nous revenons à ce que le Pr. Molimard dit depuis longtemps – la nicotine seule n’est pas la substance qui rend les fumeurs dépendants.  Il a par ailleurs publié un autre article à cet effet en réaction à cette étude que nous vous invitons à lire à :  Patches et gommes à la nicotine ne servent à rien

Voici l’étude (en anglais) de Harvard :  A prospective cohort study challenging the effectiveness of population-based medical intervention for smoking cessation

NICOTINE WARS (2)

Last April we commented on a paper from the Harvard School of Public Health that contended that the nicotine lozenges marketed by Big Tobacco were a lure to children that could even be poisoned by the abuse of such a product. We questioned why they didn’t express any worries about the similar pharmaceutical product, Commit and then went on to compare the pharmaceutical produced nicotine lozenges Commit, to the tobacco produced lozenges Orbs. Our findings were quite interesting:

Orbs contain 0,6 - 3,5 ml of nicotine

Commits contain 2 - 4 ml of nicotine

Orbs are fruit and candy flavored

Commits are fruit and candy flavored

Orbs come in attractive packaging

Commits come in attractive packaging

Because they’re a tobacco product minors cannot purchase Orbs

Commits are marketed over the counter and are available to everyone

Orbs dissolve in the mouth in minutes are small in size and can be conveniently hidden anywhere

Commits dissolve in the mouth in minutes are small in size and can be conveniently hidden anywhere

In the U.S. Orbs are priced at around 4.00 $ before tax for 15 pieces (approx. 15 cents per piece)In the U.S. Commits are priced at around 40 $ for 72 pieces tax exempted (approx 55 cents per piece).

Up until then we could only suspect that this paper was to be served as ammunition to Big Pharma for their scheme to eliminate the cheaper competition, namely tobacco manufactured lozenges, but now our suspicions have been confirmed.

Glaxo Smith Klein, makers of Commits, recently urged the FDA to take dissolvable smokeless tobacco products off the market contending that they are a threat to public health.

But what will the FDA, that has several members with financial ties to Glaxo Smith Klien sitting at the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee, do? It remains to be seen. Dr. Michael Siegel has already called for the resignation of such members. Will the FDA do the right thing? We somehow doubt it, but we will just have to wait and see. To follow.

Glaxo urges FDA to withdraw dissolvable tobacco