@article{841640b09a68491db6ba1332f881bb40,
title = "A critique of the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council CEO statement on electronic cigarettes",
abstract = "This paper critically analyses a statement by Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) on e-cigarettes in May 2022 that will be used to guide national policy. We reviewed the evidence and the conclusions drawn in the NHMRC Statement. In our view, the Statement is not a balanced reflection of the benefits and risks of vaping because it exaggerates the risks of vaping and fails to compare them to the far greater risks of smoking; it uncritically accepts evidence of harms from e-cigarettes while adopting a highly sceptical attitude towards evidence of their benefits; it incorrectly claims that the association between adolescent vaping and subsequent smoking is causal; and it understates the evidence of the benefits of e-cigarettes in assisting smokers to quit. The Statement dismisses the evidence that vaping is probably already having a positive net public health effect and misapplies the precautionary principle. Several sources of evidence supporting our assessment were published after the NHMRC Statement's publication and are also referenced. The NHMRC Statement on e-cigarettes does not present a balanced assessment of the available scientific literature and fails to meet the standard expected of a leading national scientific body.",
keywords = "E-cigarette, nicotine, public health, smoking, tobacco treatment, vaping",
author = "Mendelsohn, {Colin P.} and Wayne Hall and Ron Borland and Alex Wodak and Robert Beaglehole and Benowitz, {Neal L.} and John Britton and Chris Bullen and Etter, {Jean Fran{\c c}ois} and Ann McNeill and Rigotti, {Nancy A.}",
note = "Funding Information: C.P.M. was an unpaid board member of the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association (ATHRA), a registered health promotion charity, from October 2017 to January 2021. ATHRA accepted unconditional seed funding from the vape retail industry to become established. Funding ceased in March 2019. C.P.M. was a Director of ATHRA in March 2018 when it received a donation from KAC Communications. The donation was sourced from a surplus arising from the Global Forum on Nicotine conference in May 2017. C.P.M. is the author of , published by Aurora Press. C.P.M. has never received payments from electronic cigarette or tobacco companies. A.W. has been an unpaid board member of the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association (ATHRA), a health promotion charity, since October 2017. ATHRA received unconditional funding for establishment costs from small Australian vape businesses. Vape industry funding has not been accepted since March 2019. A.W. was a Director of ATHRA in March 2018 when it received a donation from KAC Communications. The donation was sourced from a surplus arising from the Global Forum on Nicotine conference in May 2017. A.W. has never received payments from electronic cigarette or tobacco companies. N.L.B. is consultant to pharmaceutical companies that market or are developing smoking cessation medications and is an expert witness in litigation against tobacco companies. C.B. is the lead investigator and recipient of research contracts from the NZ Ministry of Health on tobacco cessation and tobacco control in New Zealand; a co‐investigator on grants funded by the NZ Health Research Council; and is a Board member and President‐Elect of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. C.B. received payment for a consultancy to J&J Japan on nicotine replacement therapy, in 2019. N.A.R. has received no funding (current or past) from e‐cigarette or tobacco companies. N.A.R. is a consultant for, and her institution has received research funding from, Achieve Life Sciences for an investigational smoking cessation pharmacotherapy. All other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. Stop Smoking Start Vaping Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Authors. Addiction published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for the Study of Addiction.",
year = "2023",
month = jun,
doi = "10.1111/add.16143",
language = "English",
volume = "118",
pages = "1184--1192",
journal = "Addiction",
issn = "0965-2140",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd",
number = "6",
}
