Public Health England (PHE) has said in its report that electronic cigarettes could act as a game changer if prescribed on the NHS to help smokers to quit the habit.
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Fiona Johnstone, Wirral’s Director of Public Health said she welcomed the report: “It recognises the potential that e-cigarettes have in helping someone to stop smoking”. These results raise the possibility that the association between e-cigarette and combustible tobacco use initiation may be bidirectional in early adolescence, the authors write.
“Tobacco Free Futures welcomes the findings from the Public Health England evidence review, which sends a clear message to smokers that switching to e-cigarettes is a much safer alternative to smoking tobacco”. As it stands Global Positioning System and stop smoking services aren’t able to recommend use of e-cigarettes because they haven’t been approved for medicinal use, but it’s hoped that regulatory bodies will approve their use very soon.
“Now once that is approved and when we have products in that pipeline, then absolutely it can be used as part of the tools that we have available to offer to patients to help them to quit”.
The two academics said the evidence pointed to e-cigarettes contributing to falling smoking rates among adults and young people. “Adolescents who enjoy the experience of inhaling nicotine via e-cigarettes could be more apt to experiment with other nicotine products, including smokeable tobacco”.
“My reading of the evidence is that smokers who switch to vaping remove nearly all the risks smoking poses to their health”, said Hajek.
The analysis revealed a genetic variation in some smokers which was associated with an increase in the number of cigarettes consumed and a lower mean body mass index (BMI), suggesting that heavier smoking leads to lower BMI.
Tobacco companies such as Philip Morris worldwide and British American Tobacco (BAT) have viewed e-cigarettes as a solution to declining sales in Britain and the United States and have bought makers of the metal devices.
“Cancer Research UK is funding more research to deal with the unanswered questions around [e-cigarettes] including the longer-term impact”.
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“Show non-permissive attitudes about smoking anything, including e-cigarettes, so that kids pick up that it’s not okay to start any nicotine product, including e-cigarettes”, said Rome.
