Cost of misinfo: A Mumbai woman was harassed for using a vape days after health ministry published tweets falsely claiming use (bit.ly/4dUDaCI) and possession (bit.ly/40cgbzR) of e-cigarettes is banned in India. It also claimed vaping is as harmful as smoking (bit.ly/4hfUMMk). Some of these tweets now have community notes on them correcting the falsehoods, including the one retweeted by MoS Health, Mr Jadhav (bit.ly/3C1gdk2). Yet the real-world consequences are exactly what Dr Harshvardhan had pointed out in Parliament – that banning personal use & possession will lead to harassment of people and infringement of personal liberties and freedoms (bit.ly/3BPRAXE). Thanks to smart actions by the woman and commendably quick justice by @MumbaiPolice, the culprit has been caught and booked (see article below). But the culpability of the health ministry in facilitating harassment of lay Indians by spreading fake info cannot be ignored. This incident has become known, but thousands of Indians across the country are being harassed and fleeced on this issue, with one person in Bengaluru forced to pay bribe of ₹1L! In a rare instance, two cops were suspended in Bengaluru for extorting vape users (bit.ly/3ZXgqib). The problem is that despite official, written assurances by both Union home and health ministries that vape users won't be criminalised, the vape ban law (PECA) does not clearly state personal use and possession of vapes is not illegal. And now the health ministry is ad hoc tweeting, without basis, that use/possession is banned. We had infact sought an RTI reply from health ministry asking in yes/no if personal use and possession is banned and under which specific provision, but it refused to give a direct answer! This wilful and unlawful ambiguity has emboldened corrupt cops and scamsters. There is urgent need for the government to settle this issue by clarifying that personal use and possession of vapes is not a crime. Legal discourse: The argument that anything that is banned to sell must automatically be banned to use is faulty for three main reasons: a) if that were so, why didn't PECA state as much, and why did Dr Harshvardhan assure Parliament that users won't be criminalised, along with home & health ministries? b) many products across categories, including smuggled or duty/excise unpaid cigarettes and goods, are banned to sell, but not to use. c) Some health ministry bureaucrats have argued the intent was to provide temporary reprieve – ostensibly to allow current vape users to transition back to deadly smoking, which is an evil in its own right as vaping is a 95% safer alternative to smoking – but even if this is true, when did the personal use ban come into force? What is the punishment or fine for this crime? Why is this being done clandestinely, without consulting Parliament? Any ban needs to be explicitly spelt out, not inferred or guessed. Is it being done this way as the govt too knows such a ban is untenable in courts? We request the government, the opposition and the courts come to the rescue of thousands of tax-paying vape users in India whose only crime is to engage with recreational nicotine in safer ways instead of the govt-sanctioned deadly products such as cigarettes, bidis, khaini, gutka etc. which kill 13.5 lakh Indians every year. It is also not their fault that the govt's vape sale ban has utterly failed and these products are available in every panshop across the country. @narendramodi @AmitShah @PMOIndia @HMOIndia @JPNadda @nsitharaman @piyushgoyal @AnupriyaSPatel @mpprataprao @drharshvardhan @BJP4India @RahulGandhi @kharge @Pawankhera @KapilSibal @INCIndia @MamataOfficial @derekobrienmp @MahuaMoitra @AITCofficial @mkstalin @ArvindKejriwal @AtishiAAP @mieknathshinde @AUThackeray @AjitPawarSpeaks @TOIMumbai @HTMumbai @mid_day @livelawindia @ANI @PTI_News @THMumbai @ndtv @TimesNow @republic @MLJ_GoI @PIB_India @PIBMumbai Article: freepressjournal.in/amp/mumb…

FACT-CHECKING this article in @htmedia quoting Dr Sonu Goel from PGIMER which makes false claims about e-cigarette harms, followed by reasons for spreading such vaping misinformation and what should govt do about it. Article: hindustantimes.com/cities/ch… @Robert_Aabraham @RCTCPGI 1) 'ecigs contain numerous harmful substances such as formaldehyde, heavy metals, and carcinogens... which pose significant health risks & respiratory diseases' FALSE: Dose makes the poison. Ecigs contain these substances in trace amounts – formaldehyde (bit.ly/4fD0qHQ), heavy metals (bit.ly/4cl3QMe). They lower incidence of respiratory disease, and lung cancer risk from ecigs is 50,000 times less compared to smoking (bit.ly/4cwtL3X). No one claims ecigs are 'safe or harmless', but they are significantly 'safer' than smoking, which kills 8mn/yr globally and 1mn/yr in India. Thier relative safety is acknowledged by world's top health bodies (bit.ly/vape_orgs) 2) 'ecigs are not an effective tobacco cessation tool, as they are not approved by food regulatory bodies' FALSE: US FDA, among world's top food regulators, has approved 34 ecigs since 2021 (bit.ly/3AqepQM), while Cochrane Reviews, which provide the highest quality of scientific evidence, have found ecigs to be 2x more effective than NRTs in helping smokers quit (bit.ly/3Bp6m4p and go.nature.com/3K7vLEW). Just-out study finds newer ecigs are even better at helping smokers quit (bit.ly/3WUo5fi). Further, smoking rates are declining sharpest, most among youth, in nations that actively promote vaping and other less risky substitutes (UK, NZ, Japan, Sweden etc.) 3) 'increasing popularity of vaping among (non-smoking) young people' TRUE, but: a) Most teen vaping is experimental, among current smokers, and regular use is low (bit.ly/3WRlYci). It can be addressed with right policies and is down over 60% since 2018 in the US (bit.ly/3WSVqqT and bit.ly/3yF5Vot), b) if youth are going to experiment with nicotine despite efforts to dissuade them, an our ineffective ban (bit.ly/4dt2zDK), they might as well have access to the least harmful ways of doing it, c) the needs of adult smokers (+100mn in India) should be balanced with those of teen users, not as an either/or policy imperative WHY: PGIMER's tobacco control initiative is developed in partnership with and big money from 2 foreign NGOs, the Union and CTFK, whose funding was recently restricted by Union home ministry (bit.ly/3WT8oFj), and both are majorly funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, which is spending $280mn (₹2,350cr) in developing countries like India, primarily to spread anti-vaping propaganda (bit.ly/46JiImE). We therefore request @AmitShah and @HMOIndia to take action against such meddling and efforts to mislead the public on a crucial issue which impacts the lives of millions of Indians and costs over 1% GDP loss/yr. We also appeal to @JPNadda and @mohfw_India to reconsider its vape ban which is depriving over 10cr Indian smokers of access to a much safer alternative. #endvapeban

Fact-checking this article by @AnonnaDutt in @IndianExpress which passes off findings of a conference poster (bit.ly/3U3T3jH) – not published 'study', nor peer-reviewed – as scientific fact. This is shoddy journalism. @rajkamaljha @kaunain_s @mohfw_India @icmrdelhi @fortis_hospital @imaindiaorg Even the press release put out by conference organisers, American College of Cardiology, (bit.ly/3U8KW5q), states: "Researchers said that the study’s prospective observational design allows them to infer, but not conclusively determine, a causal relationship between e-cigarette use and heart failure." An observational study, by its very nature, can't establish causality, at the most 'speculate'. Yet Anonna's article never reveals this uncertainty. Other critical issues with this poster presentation: why study impact of ever use (s/he used an ecig once and got heart failure?) and not current use? Shouldn't current/regular use have stronger association? Yet, the authors state: "there was no association between frequency of current use and HF." 3k of 175k participants suffered a kind of HF seen in older people, who are most likely to be ex-smokers. Even so, the odds ratio (1.19) suggests vaping is 80% safer than smoking which increases odds of HF by 2x. This is not mentioned by study authors or the reporter. Finally, corrections are needed for random assertions made by Anonna in her article: 1) Ecigs don't help smokers quit. They do. Ecigs have been consistently found over many studies to be atleast 2x more effective than NRTs. (NHS UK: bit.ly/4aLZ1Ly, Cochrane: bit.ly/3TNTltQ) 2) Ecigs cause cancer. No, they don't, no vaper has developed it over 15-20 years since they have been around. Studies claiming such have been retracted. (Cancer Research UK: bit.ly/3TJ8pZA) 3) EVALI deaths in the US had nothing to do with nicotine vaping, but caused by adulterated THC vapes. US FDA has stated as much and CDC stopped monitoring EVALI in 2021. (bit.ly/4aL0bqF). 4) Popcorn lung from vaping is a myth. Zero cases reported, like 'ever'. (UK govt: bit.ly/4cOu5fr, and more: bit.ly/3wtGwNa). Journalism should inform and empower, not fearmonger and spread misinformation. indianexpress.com/article/he…

UK launches world's first free vape policy by giving 1 million smokers free kits to encourage them to give up tobacco products. #endvapeban @PMOIndia @amitshah @nsitharaman @mansukhmandviya @PiyushGoyal @kharge @ArvindKejriwal @drshalini_icmr bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65235343

Bangalore cops robbed ₹1 lakh ($1230) even though personal use/possession of vapes is NOT banned. Will any authority stop this loot? @AmitShah @HMOIndia @PIBHomeAffairs @mansukhmandviya @mohfw_india @BSBommai @CMofKarnataka @BlrCityPolice @DgpKarnataka reddit.com/r/bangalore/comme…