COPD Patients Who Switch to Vaping Benefit
COPD Patients Who Switch to Vaping Benefit
Lost in the shuffle of Covid spikes, PACT Acts and a closely contested presidential election was a vaping study out of Italy that was released in November 2020.
Conducted by the Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR), an Italian non-profit research institute, researchers found that smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who switched from combustible cigarettes to vaping reduced their flareups by 50 percent over the course of a year. Apart from a reduction in acute COPD symptoms, switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes improved their general cardio-respiratory health, and improved their quality of life and ability to perform physical activity.
COPD Study
Lead by CoEHAR founder Dr Riccardo Polosa, the COPD study was conducted over five years. According to Filter Mag, a variety of e-cigs were used and a significant number upgraded from simple devices to more advanced vaping hardware.
COPD is a debilitating disease that impacts almost 16 million Americans, smoking is the primary cause of COPD. Breathing patterns during physical fitness, also known as 'wind', was measured with the six-minute walking distance benchmark. After five years of vaping, the additional distance covered by the vaping group was over three times greater than the additional distance walked by the control group.
The health questionnaire found, “significant and constant improvements in lung function [and] CAT scores”. A CAT Score is a test used to access COPD symptoms. The conclusions made by researchers were unequivocal.
“E-cigarettes can be a massive remedy for COPD and this is important for physicians, patients and their caregivers.”
Vaping as a Gateway to Cigarettes Debunked
Throughout the course of the CoEHAR study, only four vapers returned to smoking during the duration of the study. The trope that vaping is a gateway to cigarettes should be dead already, but this is further evidence. This corresponds with the findings of a New England Journal of Medicine Study where vaping easily outperformed Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) as a cessation tool for smokers.
There are very few adults who initiated nicotine use on electronic cigarettes and switched to combustible smokes. But a CDC survey found that over half of US adults who quit smoking cigarettes in 2018 had switched to vaping in its place.
The Scourge of Smoking
Nicotine is an addictive chemical. Kure Vapes has no interest in selling vaping products to adults who do not already smoke or vape. We use cutting-edge age verification software to restrict underage access to our products and require adult signature upon delivery of orders placed online. Our staff is trained to request and examine photographic ID before permitting entry into our stores, which is restricted to adults over the age of 21.
Ideally, vices would not trouble humanity and we would live in a world of only healthful options. The puritanical desire for total abstinence in place of harm reduction is a uniquely American tradition. Be it prohibition, the war on drugs, taxes on soda pop, or vape bans, there are myriad failed social engineering efforts with unseen and unanticipated repercussions. Generally, they are implemented against lower income Americans. It is much easier to attack alien vices.
According to the CDC, alcohol kills over 3,000 minors every year and sends 130,000 to the emergency room. Yet there is no stomach to wage a new war against alcohol. The fact that the wealthiest Americans imbibe as much or more than any other income group plays no small role in this decision. In total, alcohol kills close to 100,000 Americans annually. For reference, 3500 American lives were lost in Iraq and about 2000 in Afghanistan. The Vietnam War claimed 50,000 deaths over a decade.
There is only one real comparable to alcohol. That is a vice that kills close to a half million annually. That is smoking. This reality is why ex-FDA chief Scott Gottlieb has repeatedly stated it would be a net benefit if all smokers switched to vaping. This is also why the UK has adopted a policy where vape juices and devices can be prescribed through their NHS healthcare system.
Nicotine Levels
The consumption of nicotine is the primary reason adult vapers use Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems. Our vision is for smokers to switch to vaping, and for vapers to reduce their nicotine levels downwards until they live a life free from nicotine and vaping. In the US, any talk of cessation is not permitted when vaping is involved but it is worth examining the findings of the CoEHAR study regarding nicotine use.
What they found is that most vapers started with nicotine strengths between 12 and 18mg/ml. If these numbers sound unusual, keep in mind that the study started before nic salts dominated the market and during the early days of vape mods. Classic cartomizer e-cigs dominated the industry. Moreover, Italy’s selection of vaping gear is quite different than the products popular in the US. Five years later, only two of the vapers studied were still using this higher strength freebase nicotine e-liquid. The others were consumer 3 to 9mg/ml nicotine strength. While nicotine is not the direct cause of COPD, this can only be viewed as a positive trend.
“The most important finding of the study is that COPD patients can abstain from smoking cigarettes indefinitely if suitable substitution is available. E-cigarettes can be a massive remedy for COPD and this is important for physicians, patients and their caregivers. The study confirms that ‘harm reversal’ is achievable and that it can be maintained for years. We are telling the world that substantial health gains are within reach when substituting deadly tobacco cigarettes for vaping products.”
Dr. Riccardo Polosa, Interview with Filter Magazine
Vaping Heart Attack Study Debunked
The CoEHAR Study puts another nail in the now debunked Heart Disease Study. Among anti-vapers, the idea that vaping causes heart attacks in an article of faith. Yet the foundation of that belief is a retracted study.
The controversial, widely reported and now retracted study was under fire for years due to issues with the methodology and potential conflicts of interest.
At the center of the controversy was Stanton Glantz, Truth Initiative Distinguished Professor of Tobacco Control. The Orwellian named Truth Initiative is one of the driving forces behind the destruction of the independent vaping industry. When it will dawn on them that their efforts will funnel vapers back onto cigarettes or e-cigarettes manufactured by the tobacco industry is impossible to say. But the current environment in the US is beginning to look a lot like regulatory capture.
Regulatory Capture
Regulatory capture occurs when government agencies are dominated by the largest stakeholders in the industries they are meant to regulate. With the levers of government seized by the largest industry players, smaller companies and the public interest are entirely ignored or even actively thwarted. How else can one describe the PACT ACT, which bans online sales and forces marginalized vapers to purchase Big Tobacco manufactured products at convenience stores where combustible cigarettes are only one shelf away. Or the flavor bans that annihilate the products of smaller players and leave the products manufactured by the tobacco industry unencumbered by regulation.
Heart Disease Study: Retraction Never as Big as Headline
The retraction is never as big as the headline and did not receive much mainstream press coverage. Splashy headlines claiming vaping causes heart attacks simply generate more clicks and more closely reflect the values of those making editorial decisions. The vaping industry is still waiting for an apology over the lung disease scare of the fall of 2019. The cause, vitamin E acetate, was identified by Labor Day.
Sources as disparate as Leafly Magazine and the State of New York recognized black market THC cartridges were the cause. Scott Gottlieb, FDA Chief until that spring, expressed deep skepticism that commercially available nicotine vapes were to blame. Yet the headlines were plastered everywhere and misleading reporting not only falsely tarred legal nicotine products as a possible culprit but failed to warn black market THC cartridge users of the potential peril they were in.
Governor Whitmer of Michigan, whose political career was kickstarted by hemp industry money, did not have Michigan's CDC provide a warning about black market THC until Thanksgiving weekend 2019. A month later, the CDC's final verdict was in. Vitamin E was not found in a single sample of nicotine e-liquid.
Rodu versus Glantz
The retraction of the debunked vaping heart attack study reflected a successful effort by Brad Rodu, University of Louisville Professor, who declared Glantz’s study to be “false and invalid”.
Rodu and Nantaporn Plurphanswat, a research economist at the University of Louisville, were quoted in the USA Today: "Their analysis was an indefensible breach of any reasonable standard for research on association or causation."
In Glantz’s now retracted study, fully 38 percent of the heart attacks attributed to vaping in this study occurred before the subject had ever vaped. And it wasn’t even close, as these heart attacks occurred ten years earlier on average. The study also failed to account for the fact that the vaper studied had previously smoked cigarettes.
Tax Payer Dollars at Work
Glantz was the primary investigator on a $20 million federal grant to research tobacco and e-cigarettes that ran from 2013 until 2018. He currently serves the same role on another $20 million grant National Institutes of Health grant that runs until 2023. Glantz's two recent reports on vaping and heart attacks were funded through the first and second federal grants.
Apart from his retracted studies, Stanton Glantz was at the center of sexual harassment lawsuit. Eunice Neeley v. Regents of The University of California, Stanton Glantz was settled out of court for $150,000. Ms. Neeley Claimed that Glantz, her supervisor at the time, sexually harassed her, made lewd remarks, ogled her breasts repeatedly and forced her to hug him on several occasions.
These behaviors first occurred at her job interview. He also refused to include her name on a research paper according to the complaint. Apart from the payout, ownership of the paper was transferred back to Neeley, and the University agreed to conduct a two-hour training session on sexual harassment for employees and management in Glantz’s research center. Of course such societal pillars should have full say and sway over the activities of consenting adults.
UK Paves Way
The UK paving the way for prescription vapes contrasts sharply with the puritanical gold-standard of nicotine abstinence supported by the ruling class in the US. Ruling class may seem to be too strong of a description. But how else should a scenario be described where a single man, Michael Bloomberg, has dedicated $160 million to destroy the independent vaping industry and deny all adults their ash and smoke free cigarette alternative of choice.
Not only does he have US politicians and entire countries dancing to the tune that he calls, but these politicians are in turn pressuring what should be independent scientific bodies like the FDA.
The pressure applied by politicians such as Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, who wants the FDA ban flavored vapes no matter the public health consequences, seemingly crosses a line set by the Supreme Court in the case Pillsbury v. The Federal Trade Commission.
The United Kingdom’s NHS is funded by tax-payer dollars. They are obsessed with economics and efficacy. Health modalities that do not deliver are ruthlessly snuffed out. This includes homeopathy, chiropractic care, herbal medicine, and many health supplements. Yet they host the Using E-Cigs to Stop Smoking website.
The purpose of prescription vapes is clear. The wealthy have given up smoking and did so decades ago. Chances are that Bloomberg, and his Truth Initiative allies have no vapers or smokers in their social circles.
Smoking and vaping are most prevalent in the LGBTQIA+ community, rural areas and among the poorest Americans. Health outcomes are worse because they lack access. The UK’s prescription policy will help subsidize the residents who want to switch from smoking to vaping. For those who could not otherwise afford to do so, or are wary about the minimal investment, this is no small deal.