Gottlieb’s Last Spiteful Parting Shot Is To Falsely Link Vaping With Seizures

FDA Admits There’s NO Proof But Scaremongers Anyway And ‘Superstar’ Cher Agrees!

Scott Gottlieb the soon to be ex boss at the FDA had one last spiteful attack left in his anti-vaping playbook inexplicably linking e-cigarettes with seizures.

The ‘doctor’ nor the FDA has any evidence to back this ludicrous claim up. But trust me, he knew full well that by mentioning an alleged link to an adoring bat shit crazy anti-vape brigade and a hungry fake news fed media – the shock horror headlines would follow. And oh boy have those headlines followed with pretty much every arm of the mainstream media reporting, what when you actually break it down, is Bullshit.

The smarmy supremo delivered that smug – wink – wink ‘don’t panic folks’ smirk saying he and his band of anti-vape brothers and sisters were not at all sure vaping had caused the seizures:

While 35 cases may not seem like much compared to the total number of people using e-cigarettes, we are nonetheless concerned by these reported cases.

We want to be clear that we don’t yet know if there’s a direct relationship between the use of e-cigarettes and a risk of seizure.

Too late mate – the damage is done and it reminds me of my old newspaper editor who used to tear me a new one with the ironic line:

Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story son…

The REAL Facts Tell A Different Story

So what’s driven The FDA to go into what they’re calling “a potential emerging safety issue“?

They have reports of 35 instances of seizures or fits between 2010 / 2019 that may or may not be directly linked to vaping or nicotine. To put that into perspective there’s approximately 3.4million Americans diagnosed with epilepsy – the most common cause of seizures. Of those it’s reported there are 470,000 children also diagnosed. Source

And remember there are many reasons for someone to have a seizure. When my son was a baby we freaked our shit after he became too hot and had a febrile convulsion. Believe me in no way am I making light of any form or seizures having cared for youngsters with learning disability and epilepsy and was trained in giving rectal diazepam.

What really galls me here is the nasty scaremongering going on by so called responsible professionals who should know better. Dig into the statement from the FDA and a very very different story emerges showing some of those having seizures were already diagnosed and in most of the cases other factors were involved:

Seizures have been reported among first-time e-cigarette users and experienced users.

In a few situations, e-cigarette users reported a prior history of seizure diagnosis.

A few reported cases indicated seizures in association with use of other substances such as marijuana or amphetamines.

Seizures have been reported as occurring after a few puffs or up to one day after use.

Most of the self-reported data that the FDA has received does not contain any specific brand or sub-brand information about the e-cigarette.

Given there’s around 20.8 million + vapers globally and of those there’s almost 5 million in the USA alone – you’d think if there was a link between vaping and seizures there’d be a few more reported than 35?

Add to that some were using speed and cannabis and getting up to God knows what else during their day and you can see why very many vape advocates are not just angry but furious. Especially as Gottlieb says ‘many‘ of the 35 cases were reported to have been by ‘youth or young adult users‘.

Now isn’t that a coincidence given Gottlieb set the fire that is the alleged ‘teen vaping epidemic‘ that’s got all those soccer moms steamed up. It’s just one more attack on a life changing /saving industry that Gottlieb and his Big Pharma buddies can feed off. Can’t wait to see what cushy directorships and consultancies he picks up after of course spending more time with his family…the reason he gave for quitting…ummm…

The devil in me wishes JUUL offered him an offer he couldn’t refuse…wouldn’t that be a delicious irony…if it all wasn’t so bloody serious.

Gottlieb’s Scaremongering Statement Shot Down

Gregory Conley, President of the American Vaping Association said the FDA’s statement was putting people’s lives at risk and pointed out two approved Big Pharma nicotine products have had similar links to seizures but this has been ignored by the FDA:

While any and all potential risks should be investigated, this release by the FDA is incredibly irresponsible. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that these seizures were caused by vaping. With more than one percent of US adults suffering from epilepsy or seizures, it would actually be highly unusual if zero consumers of a product used by millions of adults over the last decade reported suffering a seizure.

Two pharmaceutical nicotine products — Pfizer’s Nicotrol inhaler and GSK’s Nicoderm CQ patch — are linked to essentially the same number of seizures over a similar period of time. Yet, there is no glossy FDA press release designed to scare the public into believing that using a pharmaceutical quit smoking product could cause them to suffer seizures. It is only vaping products, which are rapidly eating into the profits of GSK and Pfizer, that receive this absurd and unscientific treatment.

The fearmongering from the FDA is only going to get worse from here. We are now less than two-and-a-half years away from the FDA requiring every vaping product on the market to retroactively undergo what the agency calls ‘premarket’ review. Due to the sky-high costs and lack of guidance from the FDA, we estimate that over 99 percent of products on the market today will be banned after these applications come due in August 2021.

UK vape advocate Clive Bates tweeted:

Nothing here suggests these seizures are caused by vaping, represent an elevation compared to background rate, or are higher than among smokers.

@SGottliebFDA and @FDATobacco irresponsible and unscientific to do this without also looking the evidence on smoking and seizure risk.

It’s a case of fuck thank you very much Mr Gottlieb for that parting shot of shit you’ve left the American vape scene – industry and advocates with. One last fake filled nasty little tidbit you’ve fed your adoring anti-vape nut jobs with and oh boy will they feast off this one.

Now it’s all eyes on Gottlieb’s temporary replacement Norman Ned Sharpless – I said before he sounds like a Simpson’s character – and he has quite an act to follow…

Sadly he’s most definitely from the anti-vape brigade and I’ve already labelled him Stormin’ Norman…because I reckon to make an impact and keep the job he’s gonna have to storm in there and carry on where the Mafia Don left off and kick some butts…though not of the tobacco kind if you catch my drift… 😉

Read the full FDA statement here.