August 19, 2015 PHE (Public Health England) released “E-cigarettes: an evidence update.” The UK gpvenment website states “This review explains the relative risks and benefits of e-cigarettes, in terms of harm reduction when compared with cigarettes and as an aid to quitting.” It concludes “
E-cigarettes are 95% less harmful to your health than normal cigarettes. When supported by a smoking cessation service, they help most smokers to quit tobacco altogether.”
Executive Summary: E-cigarettes: an evidence update
As detailed elsewhere in the report, the information we present does not indicate widespread problems as a result of EC. New regulations currently planned should be implemented to maximise the benefits of EC whilst minimising these risks.
The ASH survey indicates that about 60% of current EC users are current smokers, and about 40% are ex-smokers. The proportion of EC users among never smokers remains negligible.
Although the concept of the gateway theory is often treated as a straightforward scientific theory, its emergence is rather more complicated. In effect, it is a hybrid of popular, academic and media accounts – a construct retroactively assembled rather than one initially articulated as a coherent theory.
Since EC were introduced to the market, smoking prevalence among adults and youth has declined. Hence there is no evidence to date that EC are renormalising smoking, instead it’s possible that their presence has contributed to further declines in smoking, or denormalisation of smoking. The gateway theory is ill defined and we suggest its use be abandoned until it is clear how it can be tested in this field. Whilst never smokers are experimenting with EC, the vast majority of youth who regularly use EC are smokers. Regular EC use in youth is rare.
EC should not routinely be treated in the same way as smoking. It is not appropriate to prohibit EC use in health trusts and prisons as part of smokefree policies unless there is a strong rationale to do so.
Although the majority of adults and youth still correctly perceive EC to be less harmful than tobacco cigarettes, there has been an overall shift towards the inaccurate perception of EC being at least as harmful as cigarettes over the last year, for both groups. Intriguingly, there is also some evidence that people believe EC to be less harmful than medicinal nicotine replacement therapy (NRT).
Regulatory interventions should ensure optimal product safety but make sure EC are not regulated more strictly than cigarettes and can continue to evolve and improve their competitiveness against cigarettes.
There is no indication that EC users are exposed to dangerous levels of aldehydes." "The mice model has little relevance for estimating human risk and it does not raise any new safety concerns.
Encouraging smokers who cannot or do not want to stop smoking to switch to EC could be adopted as one of the key strategies to reduce smoking related disease and death.
There is a need to publicise the current best estimate that using EC is around 95% safer than smoking.
Here's a link to the
full pdf document.
