Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Two Halloween Posts That Should Scare Any Tobacco Control Advocate

Today's two posts should scare us as anti-smoking advocates, because they reveal the misrepresentation of science by an anti-smoking group to try to convince the public to support a policy proposal.

During a campaign season characterized by a number of misleading attacks on political candidates, it seems a shame that we in tobacco control are misleading the public in our own campaigns.

In the first post, I show how SmokeFreeOhio is misrepresenting scientific research to support its claims that secondhand smoke causes pulmonary emphysema and pancreatic cancer, conclusions that are not consistent with the U.S. Surgeon General's report or the California EPA report.

In the second post, I reveal another misleading campaign statement being made by SmokeFreeOhio: the claim that the effects of brief secondhand smoke exposure on atherosclerosis in nonsmokers are nearly as large as those of chronic active smoking.

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