NEWS
Vapouround Magazine’s
Reaction to Public Health
England E-Cigarette Report
It is brilliant news for the vaping community that public health officials
have recognised that e-cigarettes can play a huge part in saving the
lives of traditional smokers.
Not only is this good news for the vaping
community, but it has potentially massive
implications for the country as a whole.
We really hope it goes some way to
starting a serious program of education
about the whole issue of vaping and
e-cigarettes.
It is encouraging that many people
already recognise that e-cigarettes are
a safer means of ingesting nicotine than
traditional smoking.
Now with the news that a report from
Public Health England, Kings College
London and Queen Mary University of
London, found that e-cigarettes carry
just five per cent of the risk of tobacco
this can only help to remove some of the
myths about vaping.
PHE chief executive Duncan Selbie
wrote in the forward to the report: “Many
people think the risks of e- cigarettes are
the same as smoking tobacco and this
report clarifies the truth of this.
“In a nutshell, best estimates show
e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful to
your health than normal cigarettes, and
when supported by a smoking cessation
service, help most smokers to quit
tobacco altogether.
“We believe this review will prove a
valuable resource, explaining the relative
risks and benefits of e-cigarettes, in
terms of harm reduction when compared
with cigarettes and as an aid to quitting.”
The fact that the same public health
officials say that e-cigarettes should be
18 WINTER EDITION VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE
available on the NHS as a means to help
people quit smoking is something to be
applauded.
Ask any vaper and they will either tell
you that vaping is the reason they quit
smoking traditional cigarettes or they can
point to a friend or family member who
gave up because of e-cigarettes.
Now that we appear to have official
recognition of this can only be a good
thing but the work of educating the public
cannot stop here.
This report should be seen as the
beginning and more research into the
health benefits of vaping as opposed to
smoking should be carried out.
The findings of this new report mean
that if every one of Britain’s eight million
smokers switched to e-cigarettes instead
then around 75,000 lives could be saved
each year.
That is an astonishing statistic and
this report may go some way to seeing
e-cigarettes being taken more seriously
as a safer alternative to smoking
traditional cigarettes.
In addition we also report in this issue
details of a survey which has found that
there is no evidence to suggest that
electronic cigarettes act as a gateway to
encouraging young people to smoke.
This is also great news for the
industry and these two reports should
go a long way to dispelling some
of the misinformation and general
misunderstanding which exists about
vaping and the effects of vaping.
The more information that is out there
and the more research that is done
can only lead to a better understanding
about the vaping industry and the vaping
community as a whole.
However when a body such as Public
Health England shows the massive
potential that vaping has to save so
many lives then we all should sit up and
take notice.
It is not only deaths that we need to
focus on here because even if smoking
does not kill you it can cause many
serious chronic illnesses which can
seriously impact upon a smoker’s quality
of life.
We are not suggesting for a moment
that vaping is the solution to the nation’s
health problems but if it has the potential
to save 75,000 lives each year then
surely the NHS must look to e-cigarettes
as a potential treatment for smoking.
The fact is that more and more people
are reporting that vaping has been the
only thing that has made them stop
smoking. This includes many life-long
smokers and people who had otherwise
been smoking despite the damage it was
causing to their health.
Finally it is always good to be able to
use facts and figures to back up any
arguments or statements on using
e-cigarettes so here are seven key
messages from the Public Health
England 111-page report.