Thread by @GregTHR

~30% of #SRNT2022 pre-conference workshop attendees do not believe vaping can provide any public health benefit to adult smokers.

Tobacco control likes flavors. #SRNT2022

You can watch the pre-conference workshop here

Dr. Michael Cummings, who is a longtime opponent of smoking and friendly to the harm reduction debate, up first with a review of the tobacco wars and today's conflicts. #SRNT2022

73 minutes in, panel starts with Matt Myers, Nancy Rigotti, Neal Benowitz, and Dorothy Hatsukami.

Hatsukami: "I think we need to consider means [of reducing youth use] other than banning flavors" like marketing, packaging, how they're sold. #SRNT2022

Hatsukami: "What we need to do and what we haven't done well is to provide accurate information about the relative risks of ENDS compared to combustible tobacco..." (while also messaging on how using nothing is best)

Rigotti: "Well, I agree with the above, by & large." #SRNT2022

Rigotti: "I think the science is pretty clear that they definitely do reduce harm and reduce risk."

Getting off cigarettes is a journey. Dual use is not inherently a bad thing, as it can be a pathway to quitting and eventually cessation for some. #SRNT2022

And now, Matt Myers of @TobaccoFreeKids:

"It's not really a debate about whether people believe in harm reduction or not. I think there are very few people in the movement who don't believe in harm reduction."

30% of #SRNT2022 survey takers don't seem to believe in it.

@TobaccoFreeKids Matt Myers' gaslighting on harm reduction cannot be adequately summarized in tweet form.

Myers believes so heavily in the value of federal tobacco regulation that his org opposes exemptions to state and local bans for products with CTP authorized PMTAs / MRTPs. #SRNT2022

Myers did what every narcissist making six figures does when invited to a panel session.

Lengths of answers to the introductory question:

Benowitz: 1 minute
Hatsukami: 3 1/2 minutes
Rigotti: 2 minutes
Myers: 10+ minutes #SRNT2022

A couple years at @foodanddruglaw, myself and another panelist both dutifully complied with the request that our introductory speeches be 3-5 minutes in length. I may have gone 5 1/2 (and I felt bad about it!)

Meanwhile, the third panelist, Matt Myers:

@foodanddruglaw Myers hoped that FDA CTP and CDER would "get together" and "come up with a really rational set of rules about how to come up with rules" to move products that help smokers quit through approvals.

You helped write the Tobacco Control Act and didn't include this! #SRNT2022

Because Matt Myers disrespected #SRNT2022 attendees and panelists by filibustering his introduction, the question about the role of flavors was essentially skipped due to time limits.

Benowitz on long-term nic:

"[Some users] would like to continue using the product [and consider it a low enough risk]. So the question is do we respect people's rights to do that or are we going to be a culture that says nicotine should just not be available?" #SRNT2022

Good stuff from @DMowlsCarroll at 2:22:00. Includes a mention of how some researchers are intentionally staying out of the vaping field due to career concerns. #SRNT2022

Panel on tobacco industry research funding with @GSaintHelen, Kenneth Michael Cummings, thirdhand smoke on a chair guy Jonathan Samet, Patricia Nez Henderson and moderator Scott Leischow. #SRNT2022

Patricia Nez Henderson:

"What would my grandfather, who is a traditional healer, say about this?" (traditional healing is as real as exorcisms)

On the tobacco industry: "They are racists and have always been racists."

"That's just my own personal opinion, so..." #SRNT2022

Michael Cummings on taking industry money:

"Do it at your peril in this business because you're done -- even going to certain meetings like the WCSOH or the Thoracic Society. I think these kinds of polices are not open science. They're censorship and that's bad."

#SRNT2022

Nez Henderson back to drop some more bombs

"What we're trying to do is decolonize tobacco."

"When I say industry I am talking about anybody who has taken this sacred plant and has transformed it into this product that is used in casual use." #SRNT2022

Michael Cummings with a message that all attendees needed to hear:

"For an organization like #SRNT2022, censorship is anti-science. That means you have the answer. And there's no need for science. We need to be open and transparent."

"I've seen some of that same kind of misuse of PR by others who are not part of the tobacco industry, who will go unnamed [pause] with the initials SG." 🔥 (3:13:50)

Notes how articles have been presented with "much fanfare" then removed by journals because of errors. #SRNT2022

"[SRNT's website] says its mission is to stimulate the generation and dissemination of new knowledge considering nicoitne ... I think banning e-cigarette companies or tobacco companies from being present at #SRNT2022 kind of goes against that mission."

-- UCSF's @GSaintHelen

🚨 We must protect Patricia Nez Henderson from @DrGilchrist. 🚨

"If we don't feel safe having the industry sit out there -- if I'm threatened because of what they did to my communities and that's the conversation I'm having with them -- they shouldn't be here." #SRNT2022

Megan Piper gets a round of applause for keeping SRNT members in their comfortable bubble. #SRNT2022 👏👏👏