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closeAdditional criticisms of this study posted elsewhere
Posted by ZHerzig on 19 Mar 2015 at 11:44 GMT
The best response is Mayer’s (1). Mayer points out that it is already abundant evidence that nicotine impairs immune function in mice. However there’s no evidence for this being the case in humans (1).
Furthermore, this study's lead author stated in a response to another comment that the results possibly attributable to nicotine alone, “my guess is that nicotine is a significant contributor to the altered immune response, but there could be other components as well.”(2)
The effects of nicotine on immunity in humans are certainly not significant to show in randomized control trials of nicotine replacement therapy(3). Most importantly, the CPS-I and CPS-II studies failed to find a significant correlation between smokeless tobacco and influenza/pneumoniav(4). This is in addition for other suggestive evidence cited by Mayer that nicotine doesn't have the same immune effects as mice on humans (1).
Electronic Cigarette Industry Trade Association argues that the methodology used in this study would certainly lead to "dry puffs" which have a higher toxicity profile due to thermal degradation, but are not palatable to humans (5).
Other responses to this study are accessible here:
tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/02/new-study-reports-adverse-effects-of-e.html
http://www.ecigarette-res...
REFERENCES:
1. Mayer, bernd. "Electronic Cigarettes and Airway Infections – Update." BERND MAYER´S SCIENCE BLOG http://www.bernd-mayer.co...
2. http://www.plosone.org/an...
3. Stead, L F, Perera, R, Bullen, C, Mant, D, Hartmann‐Boyce, J, Cahill, K, & Lancaster, T. Nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation. The Cochrane Library 2012.
4. Henley SJ, Thun MJ, Connell C, Calle EE. Two large prospective studies of mortality
among men who use snuff or chewing tobacco (United States). Cancer Causes Control
2005;16:347–58.
5. New study in mice shows remarkably little acute toxicity, despite major methodology problems. http://www.ecita.org.uk/e...