Continued
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Dear Mr Gordon,
I am more than a little perplexed
at your last letter. I am afraid I
neither agree nor accept that there is nothing more to be said from you
regarding SCOTH, given that I asked specific questions to which I expected
relevant answers. Your silence on these
questions does, in all honesty, speak more than your response ever could and for
that reason I feel it is undoubtedly in the best interests of the Department of
Health to respond to them – if for no other reason than as a matter of
integrity. As I stated in my previous
letter, many of my first points and questions were ignored in your response, my
reply to you asked for answers to the original questions and so this matter has
by no means reached a conclusion or a point where you can legitimately say there
is nothing else to add. I believe if the SCOTH report is as convincing and
conclusive as you claim then there is no reason to dodge my questions.
Following on from my previous
letters I have more to add. Of the 16
person panel of SCOTH four are members of the Labour Party, two work for ASH,
one for the WHO, one employed by a pharmaceutical company and three have enjoyed
grants or hospitality at the hands of pharmaceutical companies. Given this, objectivity was clearly not
central. Furthermore, the report also
stated that "In most studies considered
individually the observed odds ratios failed to reach statistical
significance." So despite your
claims the report actually found that the majority of studies looked at found
second hand smoke to not be a health concern.
In addition to this, you also
claimed that the conclusions were accepted around the world. This may well be true, but it does not mean
that each and every researcher and scientist agrees. Indeed, Dr. Ken Denson studied smoking
studies for over a decade and found that smokers who exercised moderately
outlived non-smokers, and that what we are really seeing is smoker-related
diseases rather than smoking-related diseases.
In other words, as cigarette smokers typically come from a poorer
background and have generally unhealthy lifestyles compared to non-smokers what
the data really shows is the consequences of these unhealthy lifestyles rather
than the smoking itself.
I would greatly appreciate a
proper response to my letters so that this matter can reach an end. As the Department of Health is responsible
for the information on public health matters I assume you have the relevant data
and information to provide me with the answers I request. I see no reason for you to continually dodge
or ignore my questions, and feel that as I am taking the time to contact you to
ask for the information the least you can do is provide it. The information is such that it should be
made available to the public and there is no reason for it not to be
provided.
Yours sincerely,
Richard White