Exclusive: study finds 26% of individual responses to TGA vaping reforms contained text from template provided as part of ‘astroturfing’ campaign
The study’s lead author, A/Prof Michelle Jongenelis, who is the deputy director of the Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change, read every submission and found 370 of them – or 26% – contained text from a template provided by a vaping industry-led organisation as part of an astroturfing campaign encouraging e-cigarette users to oppose reforms.
Jongenelis told Guardian Australia that people need to be made aware of “the extent to which industry rhetoric is reaching the community, as this rhetoric often features unsubstantiated claims and misinformation”.
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