Where four is a big number

After applying his forensic analysis to a recent study, a US public health expert has found that the study’s claim that vaping is ‘a one-way bridge to cigarette smoking among youth’ is based on the fact that four young, previously-non-smoking recent vapers had tried a cigarette.

‘This story illustrates why you have to be very careful in reading and interpreting the scientific literature,’ Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, wrote on his blog, the Rest of the Story.

‘If you didn’t look at the supplemental material, which was not part of the article itself, you would never even be aware that the sweeping conclusions of this study were based on four kids.’

Not too many scientists are willing to divulge such information to the laity.