What's right thing to do? Been with IBM, Greenpeace, ASH, Cabinet Office, Environment Agency, UN in Sudan, Welsh Government, DECC and now my own Counterfactual.
London or Derbyshire, UK
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One hundred specialists call for WHO to change its hostile stance on tobacco harm reduction - new letter to FCTC delegates published.
clivebates.com/one-hundred-s…
#COP9 @DrTedros
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UN Environment Programme thinks global greenhouse gas emissions should fall by:
18% by 2030
45% by 2035
69% by 2040
That pathway is technically, economically and politically absurd. Millions would die if it were tried.
@UNEP should focus on adaptation.
unep.org/en/news-and-stories…
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Conclusion: The stupidest excesses of hubris are to be found in AI research.
Palantir CTO says some AI researchers are taking up smoking because they expect AI to cure cancer
businessinsider.com/ai-resea…
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Clive Bates retweeted
ASH is deeply saddened by the death of Dr Murray Laugesen (1935–2026), a smokefree pioneer whose approach was defined by curiosity, scientific scrutiny and empathy. He leaves an immense legacy and helped save countless lives from smoking. ash.org.nz/dr_murray_laugese…
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Real public health explained at human scale.
At best, of only passing interest in most of the weird world of tobacco control. At worst, something to mobilise against with billionaire backing.
Very easy to forget after 13 years since stopping 🚬, the frustration/exhaustion of previous years lack of sleep caused by constant coughing via cataarh n phlegm....... symptoms disappeared within a couple of weeks after switching to a Vape.
Other conditions experienced, similarly improved but rather less obviously immediate or apparent.
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Clive Bates retweeted
Very easy to forget after 13 years since stopping 🚬, the frustration/exhaustion of previous years lack of sleep caused by constant coughing via cataarh n phlegm....... symptoms disappeared within a couple of weeks after switching to a Vape.
Other conditions experienced, similarly improved but rather less obviously immediate or apparent.
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Outstanding take-down of a crazy letter from the clown caucus of 8 health ministers in the EU that want to protect the incumbent cigarette trade by freezing out competition from safer products. Mercifully most ministers declined to sign, so Europe is split.
Eight Ministers Want to Freeze Europe's Smoke-Free Future farsalinos.github.io/en/news…
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Clive Bates retweeted
Look at the acceleration in smoking cessation since around 2015. What could it be? Great news for public health that adult smoking prevalence has dropped below 10% for the first time in Britain.
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Clive Bates retweeted
🇪🇺Nobody quits smoking because of plain packaging. People quit when they find something better than a cigarette.
Ban the flavours, cap the nicotine, take away the pouches, and you know exactly where consumers will go back to.
worldvapersalliance.com/mark…
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Must-read. @ArielleSelya shows why nearly all the anti-vaping (etc) measures justified by “protecting youth” are based on a simplistic misunderstanding. Most youth vaping is beneficial, squeezing out youth smoking. Pls read.
Useful reading for @FDATobacco @EU_Health @DHSCgovuk @AshOrgUK @CR_UK @CMO_England @FCTCofficial @WHO @CTFKGlobal @VitalStrat @UCL_TARG @AshOrg @ASHScotland @ParentsvsVape
New Substack post on my talk from the recent TSRC conference:
How should we think about tobacco harm reduction going into the future as cigarettes become obsolete?
arielleselyaphd.substack.com…
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Clive Bates retweeted
I have published an article on @libdemvoice on @UKLabour’s new vape tax and why it’s disastrous policymaking. Read here: libdemvoice.org/labours-new-…
CC: @europethra @VAEPinfo @vapers_alliance @Vaping_Industry @NannyFreeState @Clive_Bates @inijames @NNAlliance @WeVapeUK @jetsipha
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Clive Bates retweeted
Great (maddening ) anatomy of grant making arielleselyaphd.substack.com…
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Clive Bates retweeted
All definitions of "addictive" boil down to:
Addiction = Dependence + Harm
Caffeine, for example, is dependence-forming but not "addictive."
Nicotine itself does not cause harm. In fact, it has some health benefits...
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Clive Bates retweeted
The Prevention Paradox: Europe's Beating Cancer Plan Targets the Products That Replace Cigarettes farsalinos.github.io/en/news…
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Palau’s deceits go further: smoking tobacco would not be scheduled under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, because the nicotine is in plant form. It would only apply to the pure nicotine in pouches and vapes.
clivebates.substack.com/p/th…
Palau told the UN that nicotine claims over 7 million lives a year, and has asked the Secretary-General for a WHO review of nicotine as a psychotropic substance.
Those deaths come from smoking. Nicotine can be addictive, but the smoke is what kills.
worldvapersalliance.com/smal…
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The 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances allows for a scheduled molecule to be made available as a medicine (e.g. benzodiazepines) under controlled conditions; so NRT could be permitted. In theory, it could also allow vapes etc via a medical route - the disastrous Australian model. Its main effect would be to create a giant illegal unregulated market.
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Clive Bates retweeted
My only disagreement with Martin is that the politicos aren’t bovine, they’re ovine - sheepishly following some indication that they’re doing something gaining popularity
It’s a shambolic, ridiculous approach to policy making, driven by Bath and an increasingly supine ASH
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Clive Bates retweeted
"I might as well set up a direct debit so HMRC can take all of my wages in one hit..."
The new vape tax came in today. In the days before, we surveyed 2,068 vapers and more than 600 of them left comments. Here are a few 🧵 #VapeDuty
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Clive Bates retweeted
Does NO ONE in the UK government know what their own NHS and ASH UK surveys actually show? 🙄
(1) Stop obsessing on teen nicotine use; that's at an all-time low.
(2) Start focusing on how US billionaire @MikeBloomberg is manipulating your media and its key UK grantee, @BathTR.
digital.nhs.uk/data-and-info…
ash.org.uk/resources/view/us…
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On what far distant planet does it make sense to triple the price of the most effective and popular way to stop smoking? Why clobber millions of people who have protected their own health at their own expense? Why nourish criminal gangs and incentivise illegal, unregulated sales?
"I might as well set up a direct debit so HMRC can take all of my wages in one hit..."
The new vape tax came in today. In the days before, we surveyed 2,068 vapers and more than 600 of them left comments. Here are a few 🧵 #VapeDuty
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Clive Bates retweeted
"The real urgent need is to help older smokers stop smoking by any means possible, and these measures and this letter work against that. Pay more attention to what is done than what is said."
New substack: Think carefully before you sign this letter
clivebates.substack.com/p/th…
A new activist sign-up letter from @AshOrgUK urges public health professionals to endorse a set of government policies that will likely do more harm than good. I give the reasons to be sceptical.
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