Fighting Misinformation - a view from the cheap seats

Humans tend to make the same mistakes over and over, usually with a different coat of paint. If there’s one thing that never ceases to amaze me, it’s the species’ infinite capacity to ignore cold, hard data in favor of a scary story.

Mark Twain said a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. In the age of the internet, the lie has already circled the globe three times, bought a t-shirt, and started a podcast before the truth has even found its socks.

The hysteria surrounding tobacco harm reduction is a prime example of what happens when emotion trumps evidence.

The "EVALI" Panic: Blaming the Wrong Suspect

Remember 2019? A sudden outbreak of lung injuries in the US. The headlines screamed that "vaping was killing people." The panic was immediate. Politicians, eager to be seen doing something, started banning flavored nicotine vapes left and right.

There was just one small problem: it wasn't the nicotine vapes.

The CDC eventually confirmed that the culprit was Vitamin E Acetate, a thickening agent used by black-market dealers to dilute illicit THC cartridges.^[1] It’s an oil. You don’t inhale oil into your lungs unless you have a death wish. Regulated nicotine e-liquids don’t contain it. They never have.

But did the headlines scream "Black Market THC Cartridges Cause Lung Injury"? No. They screamed "Vaping Kills." And the public believed it. The result? Smokers who might have switched to a safer alternative got scared and kept smoking cigarettes. That’s not caution; that’s a body count.

Popcorn Lung: The Zombie Myth

Then there’s "Popcorn Lung." Sounds terrifying, doesn't it? Bronchiolitis obliterans. A nasty disease caused by inhaling diacetyl, a flavoring chemical.

Here’s the truth: Diacetyl has been detected in some e-cigarette liquids in the past. But do you know where else it’s found? In cigarette smoke. In fact, the levels of diacetyl in cigarette smoke are hundreds of times higher than they ever were in vapes.^[2]

And yet, we don't see smokers dropping dead of popcorn lung. They die of cancer, heart disease, and emphysema-caused by the tar and combustion. Furthermore, diacetyl is banned in regulated e-liquids in the UK and EU. There has not been a single confirmed case of popcorn lung linked to vaping. Not one. But the myth shambles on, a zombie lie that refuses to die.

The Demonization of Nicotine

Let’s get one thing straight: Nicotine is not the villain.

Is it addictive? Certainly. So is caffeine. But nicotine does not cause cancer. It does not cause heart disease. It does not rot your lungs. The Royal College of Physicians - a group of people who generally know what they’re talking about - has stated clearly that nicotine itself is not a significant health hazard.^[3]

The danger is the delivery system. When you burn tobacco, you create a chemical soup of over 7,000 compounds, many of which are carcinogenic. When you vape, or use snus, or heat tobacco, you eliminate the combustion. You get the nicotine without the tar.

Public Health England (now OHID) has maintained for years that vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking.^[4] That’s not a rounding error. That’s the difference between falling off a curb and falling off a cliff.

The Cost of Ignorance

The universe doesn’t care what you believe. It only cares what is true.

The truth is that combustible cigarettes kill 8 million people a year. We have technology that can stop this. But we are letting misinformation-fear-mongering, bad science, and moral panic-stand in the way.

To deny a smoker access to a safer alternative because you "feel" it might be bad, despite the evidence, is either ignorant or malicious.

Facts matter. Lives depend on them. Try to keep up.