Partisan «Waterpipe»™ Junk Science Unlimited, Inc.

Last week, a raid was carried out over innocent though drugged populations. A series of cluster « Waterpipe »™ bombs dropped over their heads:

> Maziak W, Ward K, Eissenberg T. Interventions for waterpipe smoking cessation. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007 Oct 17;(4):CD005549.

> Maziak W, Rastam S, Ibrahim I, Ward KD, Eissenberg T. Waterpipe associated particulate matter emissions. Nicotine and Tobacco Research 2007 (in press).

> Neergaard J, Singh P, Job J, Montgomery S. Waterpipe smoking and nicotine exposure: A review of the current evidence. Nicotine and Tobacco Research 2007 (Oct);9(10):987-94.

This one in particular is a so-called "Meta Review", in fact full of Meta Errors and deserving not less than a Meta-Critique ! Any volunteer around ?

> Ward KD, Eissenberg T, Gray J, Srinivas V, Wilson N, Maziak W. Characteristics of American waterpipe users: a preliminary report. Nicotine and Tobacco Research 2007 (in press).

> Smith-Simone SY, Maziak W, Ward KD, Eissenberg T. Waterpipe tobacco smoking: knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behavior in two U.S. samples. 2007 Nicotine and Tobacco Research;(in press).

> Hammal F, Mock J, Ward KD, Eissenberg T, Maziak W. A pleasure among friends: how narghile (waterpipe) smoking differs from cigarette smoking in Syria. Tobacco Control 2007 (in press).

Field observers immediately noted that the journals in which these papers were published are, for most of them, “Nicotine and Tobacco Research” and “Tobacco Control”, hence identifying them as fortresses where very limited scientific debate is allowed. The reason would be that these journals are labelled as “peer-reviewed”.

A MORAL OBLIGATION: Independent Researchers of the World, Stand Up and Voice your Indignation ! React and Publish your Critiques !

However, correspondents quoted from frontline researchers of the other side:

> "What I do know is that science, not financial interests, should be defining terms and writing rules, and that peer-review and oversight is in need of more than a band-aid" (John POLITO, Abrupt cessation program director)

> “Peer review n[oun]. Pre-publication congratulations from your colleagues. obs[olete]. An impartial, pre-publication review of the scientific merits of research” (Steven Milloy)

> “Peer-reviewed is pire-reviewed” (*)(Kamal T.C.) [This is a pun as “pire” is a French homonym of “peer” and means “worst” or, here: “very badly”…]

Some observers compared such a raid with those official political reports prepared by so-called “think tanks” aiming at backing international war campaigns. Our message to the world is: Don’t worry about Partisan « Waterpipe »™ Junk Science Unlimited, Inc. ! Do read their publications in the light of the critique of the recent “remake” of the seriously erroneous WHO (World Health Organization), recycled and laundered: Cochrane 2007 Review Masquerade on ““Waterpipe”™ Smoking Cessation” (Wasim Maziak, Thomas Eissenberg, Kenneth Ward) Is Summertime Blues ! (includes Eddie Cochran’s famous hit, LIVE)

Also keep in mind tremendous studies exposing the desperate strategy of a great number of anti-tobacco fanatics:

> Warning: Anti-tobacco activism may be hazardous to epidemiologic science

> Defending legitimate epidemiologic research: combating Lysenko pseudoscience.

> Is the tobacco control movement misrepresenting the acute cardiovascular health effects of secondhand smoke exposure? An analysis of the scientific evidence and commentary on the implications for tobacco control and public health practice

> A Critique of Nicotine Addiction

READ ALSO: "McCarthyism is Alive and Well in the Anti-Smoking Movement" Says Pr Michael SIEGEL

Make your own opinion and draw your own conclusions. Publish them on your own sites. Thank you for participating in the awareness-raising campaign on new threats to public health and quality of life.

Image: courtesy of Steven Milloy

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