NEWS
ASH welcomes clarity from Public
Health England on the safety of
electronic cigarettes
ASH welcomes clarity from Public Health
England on the safety of electronic
cigarettes
Health charity ASH has welcomed the
clear advice about electronic cigarettes
issued by Public Health England (PHE).
A review of the evidence published by
PHE shows that electronic cigarettes
offer a much safer alternative to smoking
and more should be done to encourage
smokers to switch.
In light of this review PHE have, for
the first time, published their advice on
an appropriate approach to electronic
cigarettes for the Govern ment, local
authorities and the NHS.
Ash chief executive Deborah Arnott
said: “This timely statement from Public
Health England should reassure health
professionals, the media, and the public,
particularly smokers, that the evidence is
clear: electronic cigarettes are very much
less harmful than smoking.
“Quitting completely will always be the
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best option, and regulation is essential
as the market evolves to ensure smokers
have access to the safest most effective
products, and that uptake by neversmokers remains low.
“However, if every smoker switched
overnight to electronic cigarettes many
hundreds of thousands of premature
deaths would be prevented in the years
to come.”
The popularity of electronic cigarettes
has grown enormously since they first
came on the market.
ASH estimates that there are around
2.6 million regular users in Great Britain
nearly all of whom are ex-smokers or
smokers trying to quit or cut down.
However, there are still nearly 8 million
smokers in England, many of whom
would benefit from switching to electronic
cigarettes, but who may have been
put off doing so because of unfounded
health concerns.
Data from the ASH Smokefree GB
survey published found differences in the
level of understanding between those
who use electronic cigarettes and those
who do not.
The survey, conducted for ASH by
YouGov, found that smokers who’ve
never tried an electronic cigarette are 4
times less likely than ex-smokers who
currently use electronic cigarettes to
understand that electronic cigarettes are
a lot less harmful than smoking.
Likewise ex-smokers who currently use
electronic cigarettes are 3 times more
likely than smokers who have never tried
an electronic cigarette to understand that
nicotine in a cigarette is not a significant
cause of harm.
The advice from PHE that health
professionals and others should seek to
address misunderstandings among the
public and provide accurate information
to smokers is welcome and will hopefully
serve to reduce misunderstanding in the
future.