Sociology PhD candidate interested in user-innovation, radical technology, sociotechnical controversy. Also drugs. Current research: vaping tech/politics/panic.
Oct 15, 2019 • 22 tweets • 6 min read
Over a week ago the Wall Street Journal asked me to comment on the report that occasioned this story. Sadly none of my comments made the cut. But that's ok, I'm happy to repeat what I told WSJ (and more!) on twitter in this thread you're gonna want to read wsj.com/articles/congr…
The report by Public Good Projects(funded by Nicholson foundation) claims "bots insert pro-vaping message in anti-smoking Twitter conversations or promote misinformation regarding [ecigs]"
Here's the TL;DR: PGP's report is TERRIBLE & their main conclusion is arguably fraudulent.
Panicked decision-makers who think outlawing harm reduction alternatives to deadly & addictive goods, like cigarettes is a good idea, really ought to look at data first. So let's do that!
Let's begin with some facts
Fact: vaping is unquestionably much safer than smoking & does not carry any known risk of premature death.
Fact: the vast majority of people use the products you've recklessly decided to ban are using them for harm reduction. @RashidaTlaib@GovWhitmer
Feb 8, 2019 • 24 tweets • 6 min read
There is a research letter that was published today in Tobacco Control. CNN did a story about it, which is now running on every local news station in America. After seeing a few of these stories, I read the paper. And I have some things to say.
First of all. No one knows what they're reporting on. This isn't like journalists not reading past an abstract or press release. They literally don't have a clue what the study is about. Not even a vague idea.
And apparently every newsroom's solution to this problem was to guess.
Oct 25, 2018 • 13 tweets • 6 min read
So Altria is going to remove a bunch of their e-vapor products (that no one buys) for the sake of the kids (but mostly to pressure a company eating into their CIGARETTE sales to respond in kind, which would certainly slow or stop people from switching). A word on that.
As you may or may not know, I've done some research on the JUUL panic. As you may or may not know, the panic is an unprecedented success. This is really the first time fear of vaping, & hatred towards vape companies has successfully diffused outside of tobacco control circles.
