Surgeon General's Report Under Fire

Source from:  tobaccoreporter.com Oct 10, 2008 10/13/2008

Four groups have filed complaints with the Office of Research Integrity, Health and Human Services against the 2006 report by the former US Surgeon General, Richard H. Carmona, 'The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke'. According to a PRNewswire report, Opponents of Ohio Bans has filed a complaint against the alleged scientific misconduct (manipulation of research) of the economic assessment/impact of smoking bans; the Hawaii Smokers Alliance has filed a complaint against the public statement 'there is no safe level of exposure'; Ban the Ban Wisconsin has filed a complaint against the allegedly haphazard use of relative risks; and the Citizens Freedom Alliance has filed a complaint alleging the changing and omitting of data. Meanwhile, the PRNewswire report draws attention to 'a small representation of the articles that give a glimpse of how damaging the epidemic of anti-smoking is', including: 'Warning: Anti-Tobacco Activism May Be Hazardous to Epidemiological Science' by Dr. Carl Phillips, of the University of Alberta School of Public Health, Edmonton, Canada (http://www.epi-perspectives.com/content/pdf/1742-5573-4-13.pdf); 'Science and Secondhand Smoke: the Need for a Good Puff of Skepticism' by Sidney Zion (Skeptic, Volume 13, Number 3, 2007); 'Where's the Consensus on Second Hand Smoke?' by Joseph Bast of the Heartland Institute; and 'Did Carmona Read His Own Report?' by Jacob Scullum (Reason Magazine 06/29/2006 http://www.reason.com/blog/show/114497.html). It quotes, too, Dr. Michael Siegel, a prominent doctor specializing in preventative medicine and public health, who, in his commentary on Carmona's 2006 report, said, "The Surgeon General is publicly claiming that brief exposure to secondhand smoke increases risk for heart disease and lung cancer. But there is absolutely no evidence to support this claim. Certainly, no evidence is presented in the Surgeon General's report to support this claim. And certainly, the Surgeon General's report draws no such conclusion." Enditem