Seriously. The Duke study is a winner. The CDC study is junk. In fact every study except yours is bogus. You win.
Seriously, answer the question. Unless you can’t, because these “other studies” are only in your head.
I believe it was the head of tobacco research at John’s Hopkins (it may have been Harvard or BU), who said that one of the biggest mistakes made in the anti-smoking movement was the demonization of nicotine. Paraphrasing, nicotine has very little in the way of harmful side-effects, and, more importantly, has a wide range of positive ones. It was his belief that in attempting to hide this from the public, and even from themselves, researches blew an opportunity to understand why people smoked. For many it is the anti-depressant effects. For others, increased concentration, alertness, and displayed intelligence. For still others, it was the calming effects (nicotine has both a calming and a stimulative effect — milder than caffeine, however). Anyway, he went on to say that the anti-smoking movement, to be successful, must acknowledge this.
Given your obvious reluctance, I take it then that not only do you want deny smokers the only smoking cessation method that works, but you also want the research into understanding (accurately) the underlying factors in smoking, to be stymied.
Do you work for a tobacco company? They should be paying you.