I have a friend who has been using an e-cigarette for 10+ years. He doesn’t seem any less addicted to smoking as back when he was using old-fashioned cigarettes.

I understand e-cigarettes are supposed to help you quit… but has anyone actually had success with them? Or, is it more like trading one vice for another?

    • jocanib@lemmy.world
      7·
      1 year ago

      Link your evidence and I will critique it. I can’t do anything with this hand-wavey nonsense.

      There’s a lot of really terrible anti-vaping research out there (as there is in any field). Like the one that claimed vapers were more likely to have heart attacks which was withdrawn after reviewers and editors demanded they state which happened first, the vaping or the heart attack.

      It is a difficult area to study, no doubt. If you’re relying on observational studies which show an association but cannot determine whether there is a causal arrow, or even which direction it points in, you need to be very careful about how you interpret it. You can’t rely on the authors or the headlines. Pub Peer is often a useful first port of call to find any concerns raised, a citation search is also useful.

        • jocanib@lemmy.world
          61·
          1 year ago

          If you don’t care enough to have compiled the evidence, how can you justify expressing a strongly held opinion on a public forum? Just spew out any old bullshit headline as long as it confirms your prejudices? Regardless of how many millions of lives are on the line?

          That’s not good enough. If you make a serious claim, back it up with your sources, or just don’t do it.

            • jocanib@lemmy.world
              51·
              1 year ago

              Your “knowledge and skillsets” mean absolutely nothing if you are not prepared to share your sources. “Trust me” does not cut it.

              I’m a medical statistician and part of my job is teaching medics how to navigate the literature. You’ll be delighted to know that there’s always a massive chunk on Doll & Hill and the methods which arose from the fight to prove that smoking was killing people. Do not try to patronise me. If you cannot be bothered to write up why you think something is true, do not claim that it is true.