‘Meeroken veroorzaakt longemfyseem’

De zich uit de reguliere anti-rokenbeweging teruggetrokken wetenschapper Dr. Michael Siegel blijft zijn voormalige strijdgenoten het vuur aan de schenen leggen. De uitspraken die er elke maand weer uit dat kamp voor zijn voeten worden geworpen laten hem nog steeds van de ene verbazing in de andere vallen.

Nadat hij gisteren één anti-rokersorganisatie er op wees dat op hun website de op niets gefundeerde uitspraak was gepubliceerd als zou meeroken longemfyseem veroorzaken, publiceerde hij vandaag een lijst van 25 organisaties die datzelfde op hun sites vermelden.

Anti-roken en wetenschap hebben volgens Dr. Siegel niets meer met elkaar te maken: de anti-rokenorganisaties fantaseren er maar wat op los. En dat gaat hun hun geloofwaardigheid kosten. En dan is de hele zaak verloren.

Ga zo lekker door jongens. Wij kijken rustig toe. En glimlachen…..

In spite of the failure of every major scientific body that has reviewed the evidence to conclude that secondhand smoke causes pulmonary emphysema, at least 25 anti-smoking groups, headlined by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Cancer Society, and SmokeFreeOhio, are making precisely such a claim.

The California Environmental Protection Agency report on secondhand smoke, which is probably the most comprehensive review of the subject and which drew the controversial (even within the tobacco control community) conclusion that secondhand smoke causes breast cancer, did not even suggest that secondhand smoke causes pulmonary emphysema in nonsmokers.

In fact, the report stated that any effects of secondhand smoke on chronic lung function in nonsmokers are limited to small decrements in lung function, and is mainly in the form of exacerbating symptoms of patients with existing chronic lung disease:

“While lung function effects are less pronounced in adults than in children, ETS exposure appears to play a role in the genesis of chronic lower respiratory tract symptoms in otherwise healthy individuals and produces small, but measurable, decrements in pulmonary function. In adults, exposure to ETS at home and/or work was less associated with the onset of respiratory illness but rather with the aggravation of the symptoms and severity of existing bronchitis, sinusitis and emphysema.”

The Surgeon General, in his comprehensive report on secondhand smoke, also fails to conclude that secondhand smoke is a cause of emphysema. He mentions that there is suggestive evidence, but it is not adequate enough to support a causal conclusion at this time:

“The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer a causal relationship between secondhand smoke exposure and risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.”

Yesterday, I highlighted a number of shoddy scientific claims being communicated to the public by SmokeFreeOhio, including the conclusion that secondhand smoke causes emphysema. To my surprise, it now turns out that a large number of anti-smoking groups are implicated in prematurely communicating to the public that secondhand smoke causes emphysema, including such prominent groups as the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and the American Cancer Society.

Without Sufficient Evidence, At Least 25 Anti-Smoking Groups Claiming that Secondhand Smoke Causes Emphysema
Anti-Smoking Group Claims that Secondhand Smoke Causes Emphysema; Perhaps Most Fallacious of All Anti-Smoking Claims to Date