Anti-e-cig video denounced

A US physician and anti-cancer activist has been widely criticized after saying that electronic cigarettes are at least as harmful as are regular tobacco cigarettes.

In a video posted at the Huffington Post, Dr. Margaret Cuomo says that the use of electronic cigarettes raises the risk for lung cancer and other cancers, such as liver cancer.

She says that electronic cigarette vapor contains many dangerous chemicals that are not found in cigarette smoke, including formaldehyde, benzene, propylene glycol, and metals such as cadmium and nickel.

And she says that electronic cigarettes are at least as harmful to health as regular tobacco cigarettes are.

In his blog, The Rest of the Story, Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, says that, ironically, the video is characteristic of the lies and deception about the hazards of smoking that the tobacco industry of old used to disseminate to the public.

‘The three major claims that Dr. Cuomo makes are either: (1) completely unsupported by scientific evidence; (2) contradicted by scientific evidence; or (3) an outright lie,’ he writes.

Siegel then goes on to analyse each of the main claims (see the blog at: http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.co.uk/)

And he ends with a note of regret. ‘Perhaps what is most unfortunate about this misinformation is that Dr. Cuomo is a strong advocate for cancer prevention and inadvertently is sending a message that is completely contradictory to her goals.’

According to a story by Guy Bentley for The Daily Caller, the video was criticized, too, by Linda Bauld, Professor of Health Policy, University of Stirling, and deputy director, UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies.

She was quoted as saying, in part, that she would be extremely concerned if clinicians used the statements in the video as the basis for discussing electronic cigarettes with their patients and discouraged electronic cigarette use in current smokers.