E-cigarettes could save over 50,000 lives in the UK, experts say
From: The Guardian
Critics of WHO bid to curb vaping believe the devices are powerful aid to help smokers quit tobacco
Sarah Boseley, health editor
Switching from tobacco to e-cigarettes could save more than 50,000 smokers’ lives in the UK, according to experts who are critical of the World Health Organisation‘s recommendations for curbs on vaping.
The WHO called on governments last week to regulate the advertising and marketing of e-cigarettes and ban indoor vaping over concerns about the possibility that young people may be tempted to take up e-cigarettes and later change to tobacco. The government said it would not ban the indoor use of e-cigarettes, although more regulations over their marketing, sale and content were on their way.
But the public health community is split between those who are concerned that e-cigarettes may prove a stalking horse for the tobacco industry to re-normalise smoking and those who think they are a powerful smoking cessation aid. Prof Robert West and Dr Jamie Brown from University College London claim this week in the British Journal of General Practice that for every million smokers who switch from tobacco to e-cigarettes, over 6,000 premature deaths would be prevented in the UK every year. If all 9 million smokers took up e-cigarettes instead, 54,000 lives could be saved.
In a paper published in the journal Addiction other experts are critical of the review by a group of US-based experts, which provided much of the evidence for WHO’s recommendations.
