Finding Common Ground Against Big Tobacco

New Study Recognizes the Benefits of Uniting the Public Health Community and the Vaping Community Against Public Health Enemy Number One

News Release from Stephenson Cancer Center, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

A recently published study proposes a pact between the public health community and the vaping community to combat a shared enemy, Big Tobacco. While the two parties have argued the harmfulness – or the helpfulness – of vapor products like e-cigarettes, this study suggests the parties share common ground in uniting to create a super alliance against Big Tobacco companies.

This study, published in Nicotine and Tobacco Research, explores the antagonistic debate between the two camps. The study was authored by several Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center members at the Stephenson Cancer Center, including Theodore Wagener, PhD, one of the country’s foremost experts on e-cigarettes and other vapor products.

Vapor products have been quickly gaining widespread popularity, but for often varying reasons. Some view these devices as a safer alternative to smoking tobacco, or as a mechanism for reducing tobacco dependency. While the public health community and the vaping community may never come to an agreement on some of the issues surrounding e-cigarettes and vaping products, they can agree on the unfortunate influence of Big Tobacco.

The authors of the study contend that identifying shared goals and common ground between the two groups will minimize the involvement of Big Tobacco companies in shaping public policy. A mutual focus on the greater-good, the end of combustible tobacco, will significantly benefit both groups as well as the public.

Dr. Theodore Wagener served as the corresponding author on this study. Additional authors include: Ellen Meier, PhD, department of Pediatrics, OU Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Alayna P. Tackett, MS, department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma; James D. Matheny, MPH, Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center, Stephenson Cancer Center, OU Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Terry F. Pechacek, PhD, division of Health Policy and Management, Georgia State University School of Public Health Atlanta, Georgia.

The study was published online on October 26, 2015 in Nicotine and Tobacco Research, one of the world's few peer-reviewed journals singularly dedicated to the study of nicotine and tobacco.

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LINK: Study Abstract