The PHE goes on to say that it looks forward to the devices being made freely available on the National Health Service, something that it hopes will “provide assurance on the safety, quality and effectiveness to consumers who want to use these products as quitting aids”.
Advertisement
The group also claimed vaping is 95 per cent less harmful than smoking traditional tobacco. The researchers found that e-cigarette users (222 students) were more likely to report use of any combustible tobacco product at the six-month follow-up (31 percent vs 8 percent) and at the 12-month follow-up (25 percent vs nine percent).
E-cigarettes are a type of nicotine replacement product.
Students were asked about lifetime and past six-month use of e-cigarettes, combustible cigarettes, full-size cigars, little cigars/cigarillos, hookah water pipes, and blunts. Through the study, it is known that electronic cigarettes do not endanger health in the same way traditional cigarettes do.
The Public Health England study said e-cigarettes, which are already the most popular quitting aids in Britain and the United States, could be a cheap way to reduce smoking in deprived areas where there remains a high proportion of smokers.
E-cigarette use was associated with a greater likelihood of use of any regular tobacco product – even when socio-demographic, environmental, and personal risk factors for smoking were taken into account.
“E-cigarettes could be a game changer in public health in particular by reducing the enormous health inequalities caused by smoking”.
The study, published on Wednesday backed the use of e-cigarettes as a way quitting tobacco use consumption in normal cigarettes. The CDC estimates that 2.4 million youths use e-cigarettes.
“My reading of the evidence is that smokers who switch to vaping remove nearly all the risks smoking poses to their health”, said Professor Peter Hajek of Queen Mary University, another co-author.
I’m optimistic that e-cigarettes will help some smokers to quit tobacco, with the huge benefits that brings.
Advertisement
Professor Linda Bauld, Cancer Research UK’s expert in cancer prevention, added that the charity would conduct further research to deal with unanswered questions about the long-term impact of e-cigarettes.
