After losing its funding, one of vaping’s most revered and celebrated review groups is racing to secure its future.
“I fail to see how the benefits of a stable presence, extraordinary, accrued expertise and knowledge can be replaced…Cochrane Review Groups should be cherished.”
In a ‘huge loss’ for public health, the world-renowned Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group will close its doors in March 2023.
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This comes after its primary funder – the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) – cut its funding for all Cochrane review groups.
The news sent shockwaves across the industry, with critics questioning why the NIHR axed its funding for such a widely respected group and brought an end to the CTAG’s 30-year-long legacy.
Public health researcher Gareth Hollands said: I’m very sorry to see this decision, the Cochrane TAG produces so much high-quality and useful evidence that it will undoubtably impact the global efforts to reduce tobacco harms.
“I fail to see how the benefits of a stable presence, extraordinary accrued expertise and knowledge can be replaced…Cochrane Review Groups should be cherished.”
Critics stressed that, with all the misinformation and controversy that plagues the vape industry, a science-led voice of reason can be hard to come by.
They said that the end of the CTAG – which is responsible for a catalogue of evidence-led reviews highlighting the lifesaving potential of vaping – would only hurt harm reduction efforts.
However, a spokesperson for the independent body said it is developing a new review production model that could allow it to continue its work, even after Cochrane ‘ceases to exist’.
They said: “While we are not certain what the future holds, we are grateful to have benefitted for so many years of stable funding from the NIHR.
“In response to this situation, Cochrane has decided to disband…but we’d like to be clear that the reasons for the NIHR’s decision have nothing to do with CTAG individually, or any of our work.”
The spokesperson added that the group is ‘optimistic’ about securing alternative funding, saying that the CTAG ‘will continue its research’…just not as a part of Cochrane.
Following the announcement, Vapouround Editor Patrick Griffin said: “I was deeply saddened to learn that the CTAG will soon be phased out…this is truly the end of an era.
“I would like to thank the group for its continued diligence, its pursuit of the evidence and all that it has done for global tobacco harm reduction efforts.”
He hoped that the CTAG’s crucial work could continue long after the 2023 deadline, saying that the loss of this ‘pragmatic’ and ‘respected’ review body would ‘no doubt leave a void in tobacco research’.
The NIHR was unavailable for comment.