by Carl V Phillips
This new paper, by Marewa Glover and me, is just out in Harm Reduction Journal. In it, we review the available epidemiology evidence about the effects of nicotine-sans-smoke (NRT, snus, vape) on pregnancy outcomes. It was a bit of a challenge to get it published because we wrote the paper we needed to, rather than a “typical review”. As you might know, the journal publication process is rather …well, let’s just say conservative.
(I should note that we finalized the review before this new contribution to the literature by Igor Burstyn et. co., “Smoking and use of electronic cigarettes (vaping) in relation to preterm birth and small-for-gestational-age in a 2016 U.S. national sample” (note that this link bypasses the paywall, but does not seem to work in all browser configurations). Igor’s paper is higher quality than anything we reviewed.)
A typical review of epidemiology looks at the results that are reported in journal articles and then just naively believes them, suggesting that What We Know consists of a vague summary of whatever results the previous authors chose to publish. Or even worse — so much much worse — suggesting that a calculated average of those results is the best estimate. That is never a legitimate assessment of existing knowledge, and less so in our case. Continue reading
Tobacco harm reduction, anti-THR lies, and related topics 