We have all heard the popular, and often used saying, everybody is entitled to their own opinion. But in the mass-media world of today, an opinion becomes more than just someone’s understanding of a matter. With the right backing and a little bit of money and effort, an opinion can become a superstitious belief able to rally the masses, for better or worse, around a movement that is based on half-truths and lies. Facts get twisted, words misinterpreted, and lives affected by the wants and desires of others powerful enough to do so.

A great example: the war being waged on e cigs by health officials. For many smokers and non-smokers alike, e cigs have been a life saver for those trying to wean themselves off of their addiction to nicotine, or who are trying to avoid smoking habits altogether. These devices save your lungs from the hazards of cigarettes, by replacing tobacco smoke with vapor.

Here’s a fact: the number of teenage smokers as recorded since 1975, is at an all-time low. Yes many of them have turned to e cigs to replace their cigarettes, but instead of being recognized as the healthier smoking alternative, e cigs have been demonized as a gateway to cigarettes. An excellent example of this can be found in a report titled, “A Community Health Threat,” from the California Department of Public Health, who went on the offensive by attacking e cigs and calling for radical action to restrain their use.

Interestingly enough, the California Department of Public Health’s report is scientific nonsense: twisting facts, quoting scientific studies out of context, and lacing their findings with outright denigrations against e cigs. Health professional Sally Satel breaks down the spotty study in her piece on Forbes.com, Honesty-On-E-Cigs.

“It is stunning that a public agency entrusted with the health of the population of California would promote such a one-sided, scientifically impoverished document,” says Satel. “If the Surgeon General wants clarity on e-cigarettes, he should tell the public what we don’t know, (e.g., the long term effects of propylene glycol; whether the youth smoking will continue to fall in the presence of e-cigarettes) and what we do know (e.g., that tar released by burned tobacco is much more harmful than e-cigarette aerosol; that vaping is cheaper than smoking; that nicotine is generally benign in adults).”

California isn’t the only culprit in these nonsensical studies. Health officials all across the country are seemingly overtaken by this e cig hysteria. Cities and states all over the U.S. are imposing restrictions, bans, and punitive taxes on e-cig vaping devices. New surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, has stated that there is a “desperate need of clarity” regarding the subject of e cigs. This begs the question: who doesn’t want clarity on the matter of e cigs? Tobacco companies. E cigs have the potential to put tobacco products out of business, and who has enough power to manipulate studies, influence regulation, and push taxation other than… Big Tobacco.