Health bosses ‘ignoring safety fears’ in rush to promote vaping
A LEADING health scientist has accused government officials of ignoring growing evidence of the risk of e-cigarettes in their race to promote them as an alternative to smoking.
Martin McKee says there are ‘serious concerns’ about the effect of vaping on the lungs and heart.
But Public Health England (PHE) has recommended e- cigs should be prescribed on the NHS, claiming they are 95 per cent less harmful than cigarette smoking. Last year it campaigned for smokers to switch to vaping.
Professor McKee, a long-term critic of the promotion of the devices, said PHE ‘seems to be doing everything it can to promote e-cigarettes’. He added: ‘The nicotine in e-cigarettes is not a harmuid less drug and then there are all these other things such as flavourings that are inhaled.
‘We haven’t had e- cigarettes for long enough to know the true effects. But when we look at the evidence, there are enough grounds for serious concerns. Given the short-term effects on lung function and cardiovascular effects, we should be very, very careful.’
The professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine added: ‘ It’s not whether e- cigarettes are safer than cigarettes, it’s whether they are actually safe.’
There is growing concern about the devices, which are popular among the young – including many who have not even smoked – and have been used by around three million British adults in the decade or so they have been available.
US authorities have threatened to withdraw them from sale unless manufacturers do more to curb a rise in teenage use. The devices contain a liqform of nicotine which is heated into a vapour to be inhaled, avoiding the lung cancer risk from tobacco smoke.
But diacetyl, used in e- cigarette flavourings, may lead to an incurable condition called ‘popcorn lung’. Research has linked electronic cigarettes to certain cancers and heart disease.
And last year a study by Birmingham University linked vaping to chronic respiratory conditions such as bronchitis and emphysema.
Dr Aaron Scott, who led that study, said: ‘We don’t know what the long-term data is but we have shown it’s cytotoxic and pro-inflammatory, just like cigarette smoke in the short-term.’
Prof McKee fears e-cigs appeal to the young, despite a ban on under-18s buying them.
He expressed concerns over one particular brand, Juul, which has been blamed for nicotine addiction in children in the US and is available here.
He said: ‘It is very clear these products are being pushed very hard to children.’
A PHE report showed the number of 11 to 18-year- olds trying vaping had doubled to 15.9 per cent from 2014 to 2018.
PHE has claimed ‘false fears’ over vaping are deterring thousands from using them. Prof John Newton, director of health improvement at the government agency, said: ‘There is widespread consensus that, while not without risk, vaping is far less harmful than smoking.’
But Prof McKee said: ‘PHE seem to be ignoring the risks of e- cigarettes. It latched on to this figure that electronic cigarettes are 95 per cent safer than smoking. But the evidence is that this is not the case.’
‘Being pushed hard to children’