Thread by @michael_hoerger

Ever wonder, how did we get to this place where clinicians and scientists discourage people from taking basic health precautions, like wearing #N95 masks or running #HEPA filters to deal with wildfire smoke?

Look no further than the tobacco industry's historical playbook.

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By the 1950s, the data were in. Smoking causes lung cancer. The facts were overwhelming.

The tobacco industry responded by launching its own junk science funding program and propping up experts who would question established findings.

Great review: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

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The Tobacco Industry Research Committee (TIRC) funded & propped up scientists who used favorable messages.
🔹There are no RCTs, only observational data. Lung cancer could be caused by alcohol or genetics.
🔹Minimizing
🔹Seeding doubt
🔹Promoting fatalism
🔹"Don't be afraid"
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As an example, in the 1950s, the tobacco industry propped up Clarence Cook Little.

Here's one of Dr. Little's articles. He describes the public health push against smoking as scare tactics, panic, and fear-mongering, calls for "calm deliberation."
acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.332…
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Other industries have refined these processes over the past 60+ years.

Some clinicians & scientists have developed their own cottage industries of youtube & substack subscribers. Many people will pay to hear what confirms their ideology or denies harsh realities.
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But remember, it all started with the work of the tobacco industry, and many of their fundamental arguments remain the same today to discourage all sorts of healthful behaviors.

Question non-RCT data, minimize, promote fatalism, call others fearmongers. That's the playbook.
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