Try vaping to quit smoking

London – Vaping (using e-cigarettes) poses only a fraction of the health risk of tobacco smoking and should be encouraged among smokers to reap substantial health benefits, British public health experts said yesterday.

In a review of evidence on e-cigarettes commissioned by the government-backed Public Health England (PHE), experts said e-cigarettes could be helping some 20 000 UK smokers a year to quit tobacco – and possibly many more.

The report said there was “much public misunderstanding” about nicotine, with fewer than 10% of adults understanding that the vast majority of the harms from smoking are not caused by nicotine.

It said the evidence does not support concerns that e-cigarettes are a gateway into tobacco smoking among young people. “Our new review reinforces the finding that vaping is a fraction of the risk of smoking, at least 95% less harmful, and of negligible risk to bystanders,” said John Newton, a professor and director for health improvement at PHE.

“It would be tragic if thousands of smokers who could quit with the help of an e-cigarette are being put off due to false fears about their safety.”

The PHE report comes a few weeks after a US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report on e-cigarettes. Summarising data from hundreds of scientific studies, that report also said e-cigarettes are likely to be far less harmful than regular tobacco cigarettes.

PHE said any smoker who has struggled to quit should try switching to an e-cigarette and get professional help.

It would be tragic if thousands of smokers who could quit with help of e-cigarettes are put off due to false fears.

John Newton Public Health England