inLife Electronic Cigarettes

Scare #6
“Ash Wrote To All 50 Attorneys General, Asking Them To Take Legal Action Against This Illegal And Potentially Dangerous Product.” - Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) 08/09/09

 also....

“The FDA Should Take Electronic Cigarettes Off The Market Until It Is Satisfied That They Are Safe and Effective-The American Legacy Foundation 07/09

Fact #6 

ASH and American Legacy's Financial Bias and Agenda
ASH is funded heavily by Big Pharma, specifically, by Pfizer, the maker of Chantrix a nicotine replacement drug. Pfizer donated $100,000 to ASH in Q2 2009 as seen below:

As e-cigarette sales and popularity increase, they represent a huge threat to the profits of pharmaceutical companies, and in turn, they represent a threat to the future funding of ASH. This conflict of interest is significant, but ASH has failed to disclose its financial relationship with Pfizer in any of its statements about the dangers of electronic cigarettes. Each of the other anti-smoking groups which have warned the public about the dangers of e-cigarettes is also heavily funded by Big Pharma. Is this merely a coincidence?

The rest of the story is that ASH has completely lost sight of any semblance of science, and its propaganda has deteriorated to the level of pure hysteria. This undermines the anti-smoking movement's ability to convince people of the very real threats of real secondhand smoke and it gives the public reason to doubt that anything the movement says about tobacco smoke is accurate. It is not only unethical because it is dishonest, but it is destroying the scientific integrity of the anti-smoking movement.

The American Legacy Foundation-Bias
Every national anti-smoking group which has called for a ban on e-cigarettes is now being funded by Big Pharma and again, specifically Pfizer Corporation. The American Legacy Foundation received $260,500 from Pfizer Q1 2009 as seen below:

Now it is not surprising or at all wrong for Pfizer to support Legacy and Legacy's web site states that the Foundation receives support from Pfizer. But as Pfizer is the manufacturer of the smoking cessation drugs Chantrix and Nicotrol NS which are still approved by the FDA and the e-cig is already invading its market share. Is Legacy basing its warnings about e-cigs on science or an appeasement to one of its largest and most influential donors?

In addition, Pfizer has provided sponsorship support to help Legacy conduct a survey of physician support for smoking cessation. Not surprisingly, that study concluded that physicians must be urged to recommend more smoking cessation drugs for their patients. Also not surprisingly, the stop smoking program that Legacy runs insists upon pharmaceutical use by every individual trying to quit - no place for cold turkey quitting according to the Pfizer-sponsored American Legacy Foundation.

Particularly troubling is the fact that the American Legacy Foundation fails to disclose its financial conflict of interest with Big Pharma in its policy statement on e-cigs (or in its quit guide on the Become an Ex web site). If you are going to issue a policy on e-cigs by lobbying the FDA to ban these devices, we think you have an obligation to disclose any financial conflicts of interest that might be perceived as having a potential influence on your policy position. Certainly, financial support from a company that stands to lose millions from the sale of e-cigs constitutes a relevant conflict of interest that should be disclosed.

The anti-smoking groups are showing their true colors here. It is apparently not the health effects of cigarettes that are the real problem; it is the cigarette itself. Take away the overwhelming majority of the toxic and carcinogenic chemicals from the cigarette and what do you have? In our view, a much more logical alternative to cigarettes. In the anti-smoking groups' view, the e-cig is still a cigarette. And that is unacceptable.
 

• E-Cigs are less healthy than Tobacco >