There were some early studies that showed that nicotine had a higher affinity for ACE2 than SARS-CoV-2 and that smokers had a lower risk of catching covid.
In fairness, the study was retracted not due to the data but because "The European Respiratory Society, as a leading medical organisation in the respiratory field whose mission is to promote lung health and alleviate suffering from respiratory disease, has bylaws in place that do not permit individuals with ongoing relationships with the tobacco industry to participate in its activities" and in other situations, "The journal editors acknowledge that COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines state that failure to disclose a potential conflict of interest is not normally sufficient grounds for retraction of a published article."
I understand the journal's actions but I'd hesitate to say the study is wrong or has been retracted for anything beyond politics.
I’m not sure what you mean by “politics” here, so I’d rather be explicit and say what it looks like to me.
The tobacco industry has a rich history of trying to manipulate public opinion in their favor, and this article and authors’ undisclosed conflict of interest fits that pattern well: a study shows cigarettes are actually good for you in some way, and might even save you from the current pandemic; and then whoops, authors were getting paid by the tobacco industry, and then whoops again, they didn’t mention it when submitting for publication.
If the study was retracted even though the CoPE guidelines don’t require a retraction, it implies to me that this case was more egregious than just some protocol mixup or forgetfulness. The most generous reading is that the retraction was made out of an abundance of caution and concern for the journal’s reputation. I suppose that’s possible, but I don’t see any further evidence in favor of exonerating the article, especially knowing the industry’s history.
>I’m not sure what you mean by “politics” here, so I’d rather be explicit and say what it looks like to me.
I mean that they explicitly said they retracted the study (in the journal, the authors haven't retracted anything) because they refuse to take any research from anybody who has ever accepted money from tobacco companies regardless of the rigor of the data or research. Non-academic reasons.
I understand their stance because, as you said, the tobacco companies have a long sordid history of research and it's a journal of lung health with a strong "anti-smoking" bent, but calling the study "retracted" implies that it was somehow false or disproven when it has not been.
Why would you trust the authors, though? They really should know better. To me, the omission is either the product of general incompetence (they forgot?), or intent to deceive. Both of those seem pretty disqualifying.
Worth noting that this may or not have any bearing on the conclusions...
"The manuscript presents some new data on, and provides a section of discussion of, the effect of tobacco consumption on patient susceptibility to COVID-19, and cites other studies that claim SARS-CoV-2 infection is less prevalent in smokers or tobacco users." Perhaps reading those other studies would be prejudicial.
I once spend the better part of a day online looking for actual data on the known dangers of second-hand smoke. I found the not-so-surprising answers in a hard-to-find article in Lancet. It ... contradicted the mainstream tale.
I told everybody that while ripping my camels.