Chapman joined Thomas Eissenberg, Aruni Bhatnagar, Sven-Eric Jordt, Alan Shihadeh and Eric Soule in their concerted effort to nullify the claim that vaping is at least 95% safer than smoking (1).
Eissenberg works as a consultant in anti-vaping lawsuits from time to time and Jordt continues to receive funding from the pharmaceutical industry. Chapman’s credibility is pretty much shot following a statement he recently gave where he acknowledged that vaping is safer than smoking and the Australian approach he supports will drive a number of vapers back to smoking.
The 95% safer figure has been supported by Public Health England (PHE), the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), and a number of other UK public health bodies. They attempt to nullify it by referencing a collection of (mainly American) studies (2) detailing evidence of nonsense including “ultrafine particles” and “acute lipoid pneumonia”.
Renown harm reduction expert Clive Bates commented: “I thought this might be a better critique than it actually is. But somewhat to my surprise, it is very poor indeed.”
He added that their paper was, “a feeble and empty critique”.
Bates wrote on his Counterfactual blog (3): “At best, the authors try to show the absolute risk of vaping is not zero and that some harm is plausible. In doing so, they are refuting a claim that neither PHE or RCP make and challenging an argument not used by anyone sensible in tobacco harm reduction. However, not a single word of their paper addresses the supposed foundation of their critique – that PHE/RCP are wrong and the risks of vaping are likely to exceed five per cent of those of smoking. As well as a number of baseless assertions that are not even relevant to the “at least 95 per cent lower” relative risk claim (gateway effects, smoking cessation efficacy and second-hand aerosol exposure), there is just nothing in the paper about the relative magnitude of smoking and vaping risks. No analysis, no data, no evidence – nothing that discusses relative risk and why PHE/RCP are supposedly wrong. Niente. Nada. Rien. Nichts. Nothing.”
News from:https://www.planetofthevapes.co.uk/news/health-studies/2021-05-11_95-safer-figure-still-holds.html