E-cigarettes are not a gateway to traditional smoking and should be widely promoted as a substitute to cigarettes, a new report by the Royal College of Physicians has urged.
By supplying the nicotine that smokers are addicted to without the harmful components of tobacco smoke, e-cigarettes and vaping can prevent most of the harm caused by smoking and is likely to be beneficial to UK public health, the Royal College of Physicians study concluded. Smokers should be "reassured and encouraged" to use them, while the public can be reassured that e-cigarettes are much safer than smoking.
This news has been welcomed by Andrej Kuttruf, owner and CEO of vape store chain Evapo, which opened a its 6th store in Chapel Market in Islington earlier this week. Mr. Kuttruf said ‘Many of the customers who come to our stores are looking for a manageable and sustainable way of giving up smoking to improve their health and lifestyle. Vaping allows them to do this.
He added “this report has laid to rest almost all of the concerns over e-cigarette and vaping products and smokers should be reassured that these products can really help them quit all tobacco use forever."
The Royal College of Physicians comprehensive 200-page report has examined the science, public policy, regulation and ethics surrounding e-cigarettes and non-tobacco sources of nicotine, addressing some of the key controversies around vaping since e-cigarettes were first introduced in 2007.
As well as concluding that e-cigarettes are not a gateway to smoking, the study also found there is no evidence that e-cigarettes result in the normalisation of smoking. It also found e-cigarette use is likely to lead to successfully quitting tobacco smoking that would not otherwise have happened.
Tobacco smoking remains that biggest avoidable cause of death, disability and social inequality in the UK, with around 8.7m smokers, or 18 per cent of the population.
This report comes just weeks before regulatory changes hit the UK vaping market. From May 20th 2016, e-cigarettes and vaping products will come under the revised EU Tobacco Products Directive. Mr. Kuttruf commented “we are still awaiting the full details of the directive. My hope is that the new rules do not make it more difficult for customers to buy or use vaping products which could ultimately be very beneficial to their health.”
This sentiment is echoed by the Royal College of Physicians report which calls for “proportionate regulation", and suggests that regulation should not be allowed to "significantly [inhibit] the development and use of harm-reduction products by smokers". It suggests that regulatory strategies should both ensure product safety and encourage smokers to use the products instead of tobacco.
