Another day, another fraud perpetrated by our public health leaders at the CDC. Their latest report, Tobacco Use Among Middle and High School Students United States, 2011 2014, was released to much hype yesterday, the main news hook was the spectacular increase in teen vaping, approximately a three-fold increase over the survey period. They buried the lead, however, forgetting somehow to take note of the fact that teen smoking rates continue to test historic declines.
Here is the lead paragraph of the CDC s discussion section:
From 2011 to 2014, substantial increases were observed in current e-cigarette and hookah use among middle and high school students, resulting in an overall estimated total of 2.4 million e-cigarette youth users and an estimated 1.6 million hookah youth users in 2014 ¦.The increases in current use of e-cigarettes and hookahs offset the decreases in current use of other tobacco products, resulting in no change in overall current tobacco use among middle and high school students. In 2014, one in four high school students and one in 13 middle school students used one or more tobacco products in the last 30 days. In 2014, for the first time in NYTS, current e-cigarette use surpassed current use of every other tobacco product, including cigarettes.
See how simple it is to promote your agenda over public health? The authors merely had to conflate use of e-cigarettes and smoking to get to their goal: no change in overall tobacco use... But there is no tobacco in e-cigs/vapor products, which they well know. They continue to beat the drum of the Gateway Effect myth, implying or asserting that e-cigs are a road to nicotine addiction and thence to cigarettes when their own data show clearly the opposite: e-cigs are a gateway out of smoking, for kids just like adults. Further, they count anyone who has used an e-cigarette once in the past 30 days as a user, when the overwhelming majority of youth vaping is infrequent, experimental. Their own survey data shows that, to those who have the time to dig into that database. But Frieden and his pals know that not even health and science journalists will take that time, so they can say anything they want--the proof is in the headlines. Their lies and dissembling will come back to haunt them one day, but they should be ashamed now.