23 Mar 2012 More Mayor Bloomberg Junk Science

There’s been outrage from the left and the right about Mayor Bloomberg’s ban on food donations to NYC shelters. (Just do a web-search for the hundreds of stories about the issue this week.)

Now, there’s more evidence of junk science in the Nanny City. As I wrote today at the Junkscience blog,

“Free” nicotine patches don’t work, but NYC gives them away anyway…

If governments really want to give away products that can be effective at helping cigarette smokers quit, they should consider free dissolvable tobacco, snus, and e-cigarettes.

Mr. Bloomberg is free to use his personal wealth to try to get people not to use tobacco — even if his favorite interventions don’t work.

We can discuss whether it is appropriate for Mayor Bloomberg to be using taxpayer funds to help people quit smoking. (Some argue that it is a good investment, since taxpayers are on the hook for medical care for so many smokers.) However, if his costly interventions are shown to be ineffective, there’s absolutely no justification for them.