International Journal of Public Health Endorses Multiple Errors by US-American University of Beirut Team. Violation of Biomedical Publication Ethics

The International Journal of Public Health , a supposedly peer-reviewed journal, has endorsed multiple errors in 2 of its recent articles:

> Yunis K, Beydoun H, Nakad P, Khogali M, Shatila F, Tamim H (2007). Patterns and predictors of tobacco smoking cessation: a hospital-based study of pregnant women in Lebanon. Int J Public Health 52(4):223-32.

> Mokdad AH, Warren CW (2007). As if cigarettes were not enough, here comes narghile. Int J Public Health 52 (5):263-4.

Instead of acknowledging the right for authors to make mistakes, this journal (Dr Anke BERGER; correspondence Feb 11, 2008) has decided to sweep them under the rug. This unethical attitude in scientific publishing is also an insult to all individuals interested in knowing the truth about hookah smoking.

The content of the rejected critique was therefore posted to a scientific forum for open discussion of the peer-reviewed literature, so that readers can check by themselves: Growing Confusion in Studies on Narghile (Hookah, Shisha) Smoking Journalreview 2008 (11 Feb).

At almost the same time, ANOTHER STUDY, authored by the US-American University of Beirut (CAUTION: not the Arab University of Beirut which has not issued a single study or communiqué on narghile smoking...), was published in Nicotine and Tobacco Research, a journal supposedly “peer-reviewed”:

El-Roueiheb Z, Tamim H, Kanj M, Jabbour S, Alayan I, Musharrafieh U. Cigarette and waterpipe smoking among Lebanese adolescents, a cross-sectional study, 2003-2004. Nicotine Tob Res. 2008 Feb;10(2):309-14.

Quoteworthy (among other errors...): tumbak is "a tobacco paste often mixed with fruit flavors". We leave Lebanese and all narghile users of the world laugh or cry !

THIS IS NOT ALL. Hala TAMIM, a Lebanese distinguished narghile expert, (co-)author of half a dozen studies in this field, has recently published:

Tamim H, Yunis KA, Chemaitelly H, Alameh M, Nassar AH; National Collaborative Perinatal Neonatal Network Beirut, Lebanon. Effect of narghile and cigarette smoking on newborn birthweight. BJOG. 2008 Jan;115(1):91-7.

Expectedly (or unexpectedly, according to the viewpoint...), this study contains multiple errors, the critique of which has been accepted by the BJOG, a journal adhering to an ethical code of conduct:
Errors and misquotations in study on narghile and newborn birthweight. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 2008; 115(6):800–1

In its reply, the US AUB team insists that: “ ‘jurak,’ a tobacco-fruit mixture that is cooked to produce a dark-coloured paste to be used for smoking, is one of the very popular products used for narghile smoking in Lebanon”, ignoring that jurak doesn’t contain GLYCEROL (*) or essences…

AH Nassar, KA Yunis, H Tamim (2008) Effect of Narghile and cigarette smoking on newborn birthweight BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology115 (6) , 801–801 doi:10.1111/j.1471-0528.2008.01685.x

We leave Lebanese and all narghile users of the world laugh or cry.

NOTE ABOUT GLYCEROL: According to KC , there has been gross exaggeration about hookah smoke because most of the latter is made up of WATER... and GLYCEROL (known to have no biological toxicity. Glycerol ("glycerin") was never included [even as a footnote..., for obvious reasons] in the most advertized anti-tobacco studies including some calculation of the "TAR" [the so-called "nicotine free dry particulate matter"]). Not sure ? Read THIS

CONCLUSION
Stupidy is universal: VIDEO: Americans are NOT stupid - WITH SUBTITLES

RELEVANT READINGS:

> The “Nicotine and Tobacco Research” Journal Endorses a Scientific Error as Big and Carcinogenic as a Yemeni Narghile Bowl !

> Measuring Real Exposure to Narghile (Hookah, Shisha) Smoke and Other Concerns Related to Public Health. European Journal of Public Health 2006 (Jul 2). A critical analysis of: Tamim H, Akkary G, El-Zein A, El-Roueiheb Z, El-Chemaly S. Exposure of pre-school children to passive cigarette and narghile smoke in Beirut. European Journal of Public Health 2006 (May 4): 4 pages.

> COPE, the Committee on Publication Ethics, is "a code of conduct for editors of biomedical journals", "a suggested code of conduct for editors to guide them towards being fair to authors, researchers, and readers": http://www.publicationethics.org.uk/guidelines/code

> ICMJE. Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication. Updated Oct. 2007: http://www.icmje.org/index.html#correct

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