For years, I have objected that federal agencies selectively release information from their national surveys months or years before making the data available to all external researchers (here, here, here, here and here).
This practice guarantees that government officials control the narrative about behaviors that they deplore. The Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration have perfected this practice, perpetuating the myth of a teen vaping “epidemic” by releasing selected narrative-reinforcing data points from the annual National Youth Tobacco Survey long before providing outsiders with the raw data.
Interestingly, while the CDC quietly acknowledged that the so-called epidemic had subsided in 2020, and that teen vaping rates plummeted in 2021 (here), the agency’s PR machine continued to generate sensational storylines:
“E-Cigarette Use in Teens Prevalent During COVID-19 Pandemic” (here)
“E-cigarette use among youth remains a serious public health issue during the COVID-19 pandemic” (here)
Dr. Brad Rodu – Tobacco Truth – 2022-02-16.