A flawed study falsely stated that an increase in teen vaping was associated with an increase in teen smoking.
The article was quietly corrected, but outraged headlines and calls for action are still highly visible on many websites without any reference to the correction.
In June 2019, David Hammond and others published a paper called “Prevalence of vaping and smoking among adolescents in Canada, England, and the United States: repeat national cross sectional surveys” in the British Medical Journal.
The Canadian Cancer Society stated: “The study, led by Professor David Hammond of the University of Waterloo, found that among those 16-19 years old, vaping increased by a stunning 74% from 2017 to 2018, from 8.4% to 14.6%.”
The CBC, Canada’s national state broadcaster, added: “And even more disturbing — cigarette smoking in teenagers appeared to be rising for the first time in 30 years.”
This led to a media firestorm and demands for urgent action, for example, from The Canadian Lung Association:
“This is clear evidence that the progress made in reducing youth smoking rates has stalled. These findings need to be a wake-up call for all of us,” says Terry Dean, president and CEO, of The Canadian Lung Association. “This is unacceptable and we must truly light a fire under our collective action to reverse this trend. We cannot allow decades of public education on the harms of tobacco to go to waste.”
John Oyston – Dr John’s Blog – 2023-01-27.
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