Smokers in Novato, California, have it tough. They can smoke only in private cars or in single family detached houses if they wish to comply with a new ordinance there.
By all accounts it's hard to quit smoking. E-cigarettes seem like a reasonable way to get nicotine without lighting up the old cancer stick. But the FDA declines to list that as a way to quit.
Of the techniques recommended Watchdog.org says this:
Research varies, but one study found 9.2 percent of people who used the patch were still smoke-free after six months, versus 8.4 percent for Nicotine gum. According to WebMD, quit rates for all five NRTs range from 19 percent to 26 percent, while Chantix and Zyban are 33 percent and 24 percent effective, respectively.
That comes from E-cigarette critics get research dollars from industry competitors which goes on to say:
Researchers have found that e-cigarettes are not only 95 percent less harmful than the cumbustible version, but they have helped 6.1 million people in Europe quit smoking and another nine million have cut back on their habit.
The point of the article is the possibility of bias against E-cigarettes due to the source of funding for some of the research. The fact that E-cigarette competitors help fund the research doesn't mean it's wrong. But one doesn't have to look far to find examples of misleading research results presented as news. After all, the tobacco industry became a pariah because of allegations of fake news. The anti-smoking campaigns may simply be using tactics they learned from big tobacco.
12:15 PM 4/11/2017
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