Article by Dr.
Siegel
It’s no secret that I am a big fan
of Dr. Michael Siegel. If you don’t recognize his name here is some information
about him.
“ Dr. Siegel is a Professor in the Department
of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health. He has
25 years of experience in the field of tobacco control. He previously spent two
years working at the Office on Smoking and Health at CDC, where he conducted
research on secondhand smoke and cigarette advertising. He has published nearly
70 papers related to tobacco. He testified in the landmark Engle lawsuit
against the tobacco companies, which resulted in an unprecedented $145 billion
verdict against the industry. He teaches social and behavioral sciences, mass
communication and public health, and public health advocacy in the Masters of
Public Health program.”
We have featured articles by Dr.
Siegel before on our blogs and I believe that his article ties closely to the
blogs that we have been posting lately and the real issues of the vaping
community. All italic sentences are taken directly from Dr. Siegels blog. You
can find the link to his blog below.
It's Official: Big Pharma
is Lobbying Against Electronic Cigarettes
I have long argued that tobacco control
advocates who have financial ties to Big Pharma must disclose these ties if
they opine about national strategies for electronic cigarette regulation
because these ties represent a conflict of interest. My argument was based on
the premise that electronic cigarettes represent a major form of market
competition with pharmaceutical cessation aids and that drug companies
therefore have a financial interest in seeing electronic cigarettes squashed.
Today, I reveal that this speculation about
pharmaceutical financial interests in the demise of e-cigarettes was not just
speculation, but it has now been confirmed.
According to an article in the London
Times, GlaxoSmithKline - a major player in the pharmaceutical smoking
cessation industry - has lobbied vigorously on behalf of stringent electronic
cigarette regulation in the European Union. Specifically, a leaked memo
apparently showed that Glaxo was telling policymakers that electronic
cigarettes could be a gateway to smoking and that these products should be
regulated as medicines, not as a type of nicotine or tobacco product.
According to the article: "One of the
world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies has warned lawmakers that electronic
cigarettes could act as a “gateway to tobacco”. The leaked correspondence from
GlaxoSmithKline, whose nicotine patches, gums and lozenges are being undermined
by the burgeoning e-cigarette market, reveals the opposition from the
pharmaceutical industry to impending regulation of e-cigarettes across the
European Union. The pharmaceutical industry wants medicines licences to be
mandatory for e-cigarettes, as they are for nicotine products. Instead, the EU
is set to introduce a system in which e-cigarette companies can opt in for
medicines regulation or be regulated in a similar way to traditional
cigarettes."
"This is a blatant attempt at
rent-seeking by an obvious vested interest. We know that the pharmaceutical
industry has been lobbying hard to hamper the growth of e-cigarettes so it
comes as no surprise to find Glaxo using the tired old gateway argument. The
truth is that e-cigarettes will only "seriously disadvantage" the NRT
market if they work better as quitting aids. In my experience—and the
experience of countless other people—e-cigarettes are much better substitutes
for smoking. If they were really a "gateway" to smoking, e-cigarettes
would be good for companies
like Glaxo as they would create more smokers (NRT companies need there to be
smokers just as much as cigarette companies do)."
Snowdon also noted that the UK National
Smoking Cessation Conference was funded by GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer. He
wrote:
"As usual, both these companies are
main sponsors of the conference—apparently there is no problem having
corporations that are vociferously opposed to the most promising development in
smoking cessation paying for a conference about smoking cessation."
The Rest of the Story
Financial interests in Big Pharma must
now be recognized as conflicts of interest for any organization or individual
who is offering opinions about national strategy, policy, or regulations
regarding electronic cigarettes. Therefore, the authors of all scientific
articles regarding electronic cigarettes must disclose any financial interests
with pharmaceutical companies. Furthermore, organizations must also disclose
any financial ties to Big Pharma when they offer recommendations regarding
electronic cigarette policy.
Unfortunately, there have been numerous
violations of this disclosure standard, as several commentators on electronic
cigarette policy have failed to disclose their Big Pharma ties in published
articles. I have highlighted many of these stories on my blog, but for one
demonstrative example, see my column on failed disclosures by an individual and an
organization in the New York Times
debate on electronic cigarettes.
Another inexcusable conflict of interest is
the fact that Mitch Zeller, the director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco
Products and therefore the chief author of the proposed electronic cigarette
regulations, came to the FDA directly from a consulting job with GlaxoSmithKline
and therefore has a severe conflict of interest regarding the electronic
cigarette issue.
Moreover, several former members (and one
current member) of the FDA's Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee
have (or have had) financial conflicts of interest with Big Pharma, and thus
are not in a position to offer opinions about national tobacco product
regulation in the context of this expert advisory panel.
And finally, it appears that most of the
national tobacco control conferences continue to be funded by pharmaceutical
companies. There is no way that these conferences can be objective about
smoking policy, especially regarding electronic cigarettes and smoking
cessation, when they are funded by Big Pharma.
Find Dr. Siegels blog at:
http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/06/its-official-big-pharma-is-lobbying.html?spref=tw
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