Industrial grade hypocrisy
The hypocrisy of some beggars belief.
Our Hiqa [another bunch of tax funded clipboard carriers] commissioned a study into electrofags.
Concerns vaping may act as ‘gateway’ to tobacco cigarettes
Despite there being evidence to the contrary, what business is it of theirs anyway?
The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) is also concerned that non-smokers who vape will switch to tobacco cigarettes.
Now vaping is the almost exclusive reserve of the smoker and ex-smoker so I would imagine there are virtually zero non-smokers who vape. And if someone did try vaping, why on earth would they switch to something that they are constantly told is so lethal? Don’t Hiqa, the HSE and ASH et al believe in the effectiveness of their own propaganda?
Hiqa is the first authority in the EU to examine the cost-effectiveness of e-cigarettes as an intervention to assist people in giving up smoking.
It has advised the Health Minister Simon Harris to await results of ongoing vaping trials before deciding whether to recommend e-cigarettes.
Hiqa found that almost one in three people use e-cigarettes in their attempt to stop smoking, even though there is insufficient evidence to “reliably” show they work.
They seem to overlook the fact that electrofags are just an alternative to smoking, and I don’t think any are sold under the pretense that they are solely to help people quit. The fact that millions have quit cigarettes in favour or electrofags is just merely an inconvenient coincidence?
But it gets worse…..
It found that varenicline was the most effective single therapy and recommended it be used alone or with nicotine patches. The prescription-only medicine reduces the urge to smoke and relieves withdrawal symptoms.
Now varenicline is mentioned three times in the article. It is the “preferred choice”. For anyone who has been living under a rock for the last decade, I checked drugs.com. Their opening two paragraphs –
Serious mental or mood problems (including depression, suicidal thoughts, suicidal attempts) and completed suicides have been reported in patients taking varenicline. Nicotine withdrawal may also have contributed to some of these events. However, these events have also occurred in patients who continued to smoke. These events have occurred both in patients with and without a history of mental or mood problems. Safety and effectiveness of varenicline in patients with a history of certain mental or mood problems (eg, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, severe depression) have not been confirmed.
Watch patients who take varenicline closely. Stop taking varenicline and contact the doctor at once if new, worsened, or sudden symptoms such as depressed mood, hostility or agitation, or any unusual change in mood or behavior occur. Contact the doctor right away if any signs of suicidal thoughts or actions occur.
So to combat the harmful effects of smoking [highly disputed] they endorse, promote and recommend a drug that will drive people to depression and suicide? Are they recommending suicide as a smoking cessation method? I suppose it is 100% effective.
Cigarettes:
Provide pleasure, relaxation and calming of nerves.
Side effects: May cause increased risk of heart or lung disease in some.
Varenicline:
Numbs pleasure receptors in the brain.
Side effects:
- High chance of depression and suicide.
- Anger
- anxiety
- behavior changes
- discouragement
- feeling sad or empty
- feelings of panic
- irregular heartbeats
- irritability
- loss of interest or pleasure
- mood swings
- restlessness
- seeing, hearing, or feeling things that are not there
- sleepwalking
- Abnormal dreams
- bloated or full feeling
- change in taste
- difficulty having a bowel movement (stool)
- dry mouth
- excess air or gas in the stomach or intestines
- general feeling of discomfort or illness
- headache
- lack or loss of strength
- loss of taste
- nausea
- passing gas
- stomach pain
- trouble sleeping
- unusual tiredness or weakness
- Acid or sour stomach
- belching
- body aches or pain
- chills
- cough
- decreased appetite
- dizziness
- ear congestion
- fever
- heartburn
- increased appetite
- indigestion
- itching skin or rash
- loss of appetite
- loss of voice
- nightmares
- sleepiness or unusual drowsiness
- sneezing or sore throat
- stomach discomfort or upset
- stuffy or runny nose
- trouble concentrating
- unusual drowsiness, dullness, or feeling of sluggishness
- vomiting
How’s that for a bit of Health Information, Hiqa?
Remember – this is their preferred medical alternative to smoking.
The hypocrisy is mind numbing.
Hypocrisy is what they do, GD. Along with lying through their teeth, it’s their stock-in-trade.
As for Champix (Chantix), they think it’s great, and would love it to become mandatory medication for all smokers. If they thought they could get away with it, they would recommend jumping off a high building as a way of quitting.
Their “cure” is infinitely worse that the “ailment”.
Despite everything that’s stated in thr regular meeja, things are still not so hot here in Ireland, with a homeless crisis and evictions rivaling the Famine days. There a lot of very unhappy people, yet they promote something that can cause depression and suicide?
Why are these people not held to account?
Incidentally the €40 million they spend each year would go a fair way to housing a few families? Just sayin’.
Varenicline: maybe not even fit for the purpose being touted? “However, these events have also occurred in patients who continued to smoke.”
That’s like saying that people who died on the operating table would probably have died anyway. Beneath contempt.
Un-fucking-believable.
Well, unfortunately it is believable. One day these fuckers will have to find themselves proper, real jobs.
Hmm. Interesting. I wonder if HIQA by any chance got a teensy-weensy little “encourager” from the manufacturers of Chantix (Pfizer maybe? Can’t remember) to mention it so much? It seems a bit OTT for them to keep pushing Chantix as their “preferred method” even over and above their usual exhortations for everyone to use the oh-so-successful NRT that they usually try and foist smokers off with.
And if vaping does lead people to start smoking (which I doubt, but who knows), then that would actually be great. We need more new members of the smoking community in order to frustrate the self-congratulatory claimed “successes” of the anti-smoking movement to shut them up for a while. After all, if someone is curious enough to try vaping without having smoked at all before, it’s not out of the question that they might be similarly curious to try smoking, too. And that leads to the very real possibility that they’ll find, as many smokers who have tried vaping (such as myself) have found, that for many people, smoking is even better!
“encourager”? Surely not? It is just a remarkable coincidence that all these reports happen to push products by Big Pharma to the exclusion of all else.
Incidentally I think most “studies” that prove the gateway effect are based on some kid who takes a puff of an electrofag and subsequently takes a puff [just one puff is sufficient] of a cigarette and who is then classed as having switched from electrofags to cigarettes. I don’t think they ever found someone who used to regularly vape and then became a regular cigarette smoker.