WHO update on electronic cigarettes…
Personal attacks, questionable ethics and support for censorship when the results do not fit to the agenda
A sad story of scientific misconduct
In an unprecedented attempt to create confusion, support censorship, intimidate journal editors and discredit research which obviously does not fit to his agenda, Prof Stanton Glantz released a statement in his blog engaging in a direct personal attack against me and against International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health for “daring” to publish research conducted by Lorillard Tobacco concerning e-cigarettes.
Unfortunately for anyone behaving in a similar way, it is going to be extremely hard to intimidate me, both scientifically and personally.
From a scientific perspective, the arguments presented by Prof Glantz are another collection of scientifically irrelevant logorrhea, in a repeated and easily-recognized attempt to misinform and create confusion.
The study referred by Prof Glantz is the first study evaluating the mutagenicity of e-cigarette aerosol, using the Ames test. This is the most recognized and acceptable form of testing for mutagenicity, developed in the early 1970s by Bruce Ames from the University of California, Berkeley (and not from any tobacco company).
Additionally, Lorillard researchers used human lung epithelial cells to test the cytotoxic properties of e-cigarettes, smokeless tobacco products and NRTs. Supporting that these cells are not relevant to e-cigarette research shows only two things: either ignorance or political manipulation and deliberate misinformation.
He exposes himself by clearly mentioning that research should be conducted on cells that are SENSITIVE to e-cigarettes, while a scientifically sound approach is to test them on cells which are RELEVANT to e-cigarette use. This is protocol manipulation in order to deliberately show negative results.
I suppose no regulatory or scientific authority would ever prefer e-cigarettes to be tested on embryonic neuronal stem cells rather than on human lung epithelial cells. Moreover, his arguments show the typical difference between being a predisposed commentator and making a proper scientific assessment of a research study.
Originally written By Dr Farsalinos
