Misinformation stops switching to e-cig – group

GENEVA: A regional tobacco harm reduction organization has warned that misleading and downright false information on e-cigarettes is stopping smokers from switching to the better nicotine alternative.

According to Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (Caphra), the perception of harm from vaping was not consistent with the scientific evidence.

Caphra is a regional alliance committed to educating, advocating and representing the right of adult alternative nicotine consumers to access and use of products that reduce harm from tobacco use.

Its country representatives work with tobacco harm reduction ( THR) experts and advocates from around the world. Caphra members currently include Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

It advised that local public health experts should take the lead in providing smokers who cannot or do not want to quit smoking by themselves or with currently approved methods with accurate scientific information on e-cigarettes and other better nicotine alternatives.

Clarisse Virgino, one of the representatives of Caphra, cited the latest Public Health England (PHE) evidence update on vaping, which revealed that perceptions of harm from vaping among smokers are increasingly out of line with the evidence.

“The proportion [of smokers] who thought vaping was less harmful than cigarettes declined from 45 percent in 2014 to 34 percent in 2019. These misperceptions are particularly common among smokers who do not vape. Increasingly incorrect perceptions among the public about the harms of vaping could prevent some smokers using vaping products to quit smoking,” the report stated.

The PHE also concluded that “e-cigarettes are around 95 percent safer than combustible cigarettes.” The PHE report found that vaping remains most common among smokers and former smokers in England, with less than 1 percent of people who have never smoked currently vaping.

It noted that smoking among adults in England had continued to decline over the past 10 years and in 2019 was around 15 percent. “The data presented…suggests that vaping has not undermined the declines in adult smoking.”

PHE is an executive agency of the United Kingdom Department of Health and Social Care, consisting of scientists, researchers and public health professionals who provide the UK government, parliament, National Health Service, industry and the public with evidence-based professional, scientific expertise and support.

In the Philippines, there are an estimated 16 million Filipino smokers, with the country having a low 4-percent smoking cessation rate. Its Health department data shows that almost 88,000 of its citizens die from smoking-related diseases every year.