Dr. Siegel stapt definitief uit anti-rokersbeweging

In navolging van de Canadese anti-rokenactivist Luc Martial heeft ook Dr. Michael Siegel, die zich 21 jaar lang heeft beziggehouden met anti-rokenonderzoek, vaarwel gezegd tegen het anti-rokenwereldje. De beslissing kwam nadat hij uit een anti-roken mailing list (GlobaLink, waarvan o.a. ook Trouw journalist Joop Bouma lid is!) werd gezet.

Zowel Luc Martial als Michael Siegel kunnen zich niet langer verenigen met de cultuur in de anti-rokenbeweging, die zich te buiten gaat aan manipulatie, propagandatechnieken, persoonlijke aanvallen op mensen met een ander standpunt dan de overheersende stroming en aan verdraaing van de wetenschappelijke feiten.

I never thought I would be writing a post like this one. I was always under the impression that tobacco control advocates were united in their desire to reduce tobacco-related morbidity and mortality and that our opposition, against whom we needed to concentrate our attention, was the tobacco industry. If I was ever going to be personally attacked and insulted, I was sure the attacks and insults would come from the tobacco companies.

But in my eight years of involvement in tobacco litigation, I was always treated with great respect and courtesy by the tobacco company lawyers with whom I interacted. And tobacco company documents that attempted to refute my research may have been harsh in terms of their attacks on my scientific arguments, but they treated me as an individual researcher with decent respect.

Not so from many of my tobacco control colleagues.

The rest of the story is that beyond my wildest imagination, the attacks on me and my career have ended up coming not from the tobacco industry but from my own colleagues. In nothing short of an effort to ruin my career, I have been attacked and insulted by my colleagues in far worse fashion than I could have ever imagined possible. I have been treated, by many of my colleagues, with far less respect than I have ever been treated by anyone affiliated with any tobacco company.

Personal Insults and Attacks and Calls for Censorship from My Tobacco Control Colleagues: Is this What the Tobacco Control Movement is All About?

En, gezien een latere post op zijn blog, staat Siegel niet alleen in zijn afkeuring van de huidige anti-rokenbeweging:

Several Tobacco Control Advocates Did Support My Right to Express My Opinions, But Their Advice was Not Heeded