Is the Surgeon General a Liar or an Idiot?

Under the headline "Killing by the million--and that's just the health campaigners," British anti-smoking activist Clive Bates slams "the well paid and comfortably smug public health community" for refusing to accept the idea of smokeless tobacco as a harm-reducing alternative to cigarettes:

Instead of telling the truth about low risk options, there is a conspiracy to lie and mislead (for example, the US Surgeon General told a barefaced lie about it to Congress). In Europe, we even have a directive (2001/37/EC see article 8 and 2.4) that bans the much lower risk products than cigarettes. If there is a reason to be a Euro-sceptic, then this is one of the strongest--deliberate denial of access to products that are much lower risk to people that are addicted to nicotine.

Having heard Richard Carmona speak, I'm inclined to be a little more charitable than Bates. I think it's plausible that he simply doesn't know what he's talking about when he says things like, "I cannot conclude that the use of any tobacco product is a safer alternative to smoking." His staff, however, is another matter.

[Thanks to Brad Rodu for the link.]