Once again the Consumers Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association better known as CASAA is at loggerheads with the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention shortly CDC. The latest phase of bitterness started when CDC started a campaign with anti-vaping propaganda. Although it claims CDC is a non-profit private organisation, most of its funding comes from the federal Govt. Whereas CASAA is a pro-vaping organisation and highly active to promote vaping. The CASAA has asked the White House to tighten its control over CDC, which is unnecessarily engaged in its anti-vaping propaganda.
In its letter addressed to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), CASAA has demanded the administration end funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) program which is notorious for publishing deceptive ads about vaping over print media and in TV commercials.
The well-known ad campaign, Tips From Former Smokers was a great effort towards the anti-smoking effort. But CASAA has alleged that CDC has misused this $48 million campaign to launch a covert attack on pro-vaping advocates. CASAA has specially mentioned one of the ads created by the CDC, that focused on a prolonged smoker named Kristy who despite trying vaping as an alternative to smoking could not quit smoking and subsequently suffered from a lung ailment.
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In the ad, Kristy was shown saying that she thought she could quit smoking if she smokes an electronic cigarette, but she could never quit it. In a casual watch, this seems to be a simple anti-smoking ad. But if we analyse her words carefully, as Dr Michael Siegel said, their main purpose is to demonise e-cigarettes. Whereas CASAA has a clear stand that combustible tobacco cigarettes and e-cigarettes are two different consumable items for two different groups of people.
In its letter to OMB, CASAA has bluntly criticised the govt. agency for breaking public trust. CASAA has also alleged the CDC of overlooking scientific research and promoting an idea that has no scientific substance. It also alleged the CDC of distorting scientific facts for promoting only one idea that the only way to reduce the harm from smoking is to completely quit it. They have requested the federal govt. to channel the efforts of the CDC towards the core principle of public health, which is the promotion of harm reduction methods rather than promoting complete abstinence policies. These policies should include the smoker community as well just like any other community and e-cigarettes should be treated only as a harm reduction tool not a complete alternative to tobacco cigarettes.
CDC hunt for failed vapers
It seems that the allegations of CASAA hold ground as CDC has for a long back deliberately tried to confuse people on vaping. During the year 2014 CDC updated its Tips From Former Smokers Ad campaign, in which it had deliberately sought smokers who were also vapers to confuse these two practices in the common man’s mind. The Ad for hunting former vapers itself speaks a volume about the intentions of the CDC. You may see below what kind of people CDC was looking for:-
- “Person who has used e-cigarettes or smokeless tobacco for the last year while continuing to smoke some cigarettes.”
- “People who thought that using e-cigarettes or smokeless tobacco can reduce dependence on other cigarettes and thus help reduce the harm of smoking.”
- “Person who diagnosed with a serious health condition, despite reducing cigarette consumption”
In its ad, CDC had promised the applicants a handsome $2,500 and travel expenses. Kristy might have been involved through such ads, which also gives some credible reasons to doubt Kristy’s claims about e-cigarettes.
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How bad is anti-vaping propaganda?
As Carl Phillips has rightly predicted this anti-vaping propaganda campaign of the CDC may end up proving that the disease is caused due to vaping or at least due to cutting back on cigarette consumption with vaping rather than completely quitting it.
Whatever may be the reason behind CDC’s anti-vaping propaganda, which is directed to discourage smokers from adopting e-cigarette over combustible tobacco smoking, one thing is for sure is that e-cigarette is becoming more and more popular amongst the youth and it would be very hard for CDC to succeed in demonizing vaping.