“..........there continues to be a lack of evidence on the
long-term use of e-cigarettes. I want to see these products coming to the
market as licensed medicines. This would provide assurance on the safety,
quality and efficacy to consumers who want to use these products as quitting
aids, especially in relation to the flavourings used, which is where we know
least about any inhalation risks.”
UK Government’s Chief
Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, speaking about the PHE (Public Health
England) declaration that e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than tobacco
cigarettes
At long last a Government Study on e-cigarettes has been
published and so far it looks like a victory for British smokers!
The PHE (Public Health England) has declared in a 111-page
review on Wednesday August 19th 2015 that e-cigarettes are less
damaging than traditional cigarettes as reported in the article “Vaping:
e-cigarettes safer than smoking, says Public Health England”, published
Wednesday 19 August 2015 published James Meikle, The UK Guardian.
For those of you keeping score in the tit-for-tat battle
between the Health and Regulatory authorities in the US and UK, this is
technically the very first time any Government body has suggested that
e-cigarettes are less damaging to your health than smoking traditional
cigarettes.
The full declaration of the PHC can be read in their post
entitled “E-cigarettes:
a new foundation for evidence-based policy and practice”.
It's a really long, detailed read, but it ends by saying
that e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than tobacco cigarettes and even goes as
far as to say they could be a viable prescription replacement for nicotine
patches used by persons trying to quit smoking.
This is a stunner to non-smoking advocates all over the
world who have quoted studies such as the FDA (Federal Drug Administration)
approved Boston University Study published back in April 2014 that suggested
that e-cigarettes were as bad as regular cigarettes as per my blog article
entitled “Boston
University Study indicates E-Cigarettes can cause Lung Cancer - Carcinogenic
Second Hand Vapour-Nicotine Aerosol as Marijuana E-Cigarettes Light up”.
So is it a good decision? That depends largely on the
science, really!
PHE's Policy
document on e-cigarettes - No evidence that Nicotine causes Lung cancer means
e-cigarettes are safer
Please note that this isn't a wholesale acceptance of
e-cigarettes, as no long term studies exist that prove that they're safe as the
deep analysis in the article “E-cigarettes
and health — here's what the evidence actually says”, published August 18,
2015 by Julia Belluz, Vox would seem to
imply!
But due to the absence of any long-term studies, it means
that they're merely safer than traditional cigarettes and not necessarily safer
overall; not smoking and quitting entirely would be a lot better for you.
Dr. Peter Hajek, professor of clinical psychology and
director of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine's Tobacco Dependence
Research Unit at Queen Mary University was one of the independent authors of
the review, supports this point of view, quote: “My reading of the evidence is
that smokers who switch to vaping remove almost all the risks smoking poses to
their health. Smokers differ in their needs and I would advise them not to give
up on e-cigarettes if they do not like the first one they try. It may take some
experimentation with different products and e-liquids to find the right one”.
Still e-cigarettes may still create the smoking habit among
teenagers to quote Public Health Minister in England, Jane Ellison: “Although
we recognize the e-cigarettes may help adults to quit, we still want to protect
children from the dangers of nicotine, which is why we have made it illegal for
under-18s to buy them”.
Also the jury's still out on whether or not the use of pure
nicotine in e-cigarettes actually causes cancers or if it's the particulates in
the smoke. After all, in both marijuana and cigarette smokers, who are both
prone to getting lung cancer, it's unburnt long chain hydrocarbons, and chemicals
such as tar and arsenic, that are associated with lung cancers, not nicotine or
THC (TetraHydrocannabinol).
So does this mean e-cigarette smoking is ok? Not entirely!
PHE and
e-cigarettes - Ban on Smoking in UK and Jamaica might not include e-cigarettes
In England, where approximately 8 million tobacco users
smoke cigarettes daily, 100,000 die each year. This is much lower than in the
1940's but it's still unacceptably high.
The thinking of anti-tobacco campaigners and public health
specialists is that e-cigarettes can be yet another way for smokers to quit
smoking gradually, like the nicotine patch. So this 111-page review that
basically vets the idea is quite welcome, as it now means vapers do not have to
fear e-cigarettes are harming them and thus not try it as a more natural alternative
to nicotine patches.
They also don't have to worry about public places banning
them from smoking, as the support from a UK Government body implies that
they're on the side of vapers and their desire to quit smoking, to quote Ecita,
a trade association of e-cigarette manufacturers, said: “There could be huge
long-term benefits to taxpayers and the NHS as well as to former smokers and
their families. The proposed ban in public places across Wales is very
worrying, as are many of the bans in pubs and restaurants across the UK. This
appears to be driving a growing number of people to think the harm is the same,
deterring smokers from moving to e-cigarettes, and damaging public health”.
Smoking will be banned as is the case in Jamaica as noted in
my blog article
entitled “Adventists
want Ban on Vehicle Pollution as Smoking Ban looms on Monday July 15th 2013 -
Dr. Fenton Ferguson's Escape Plan leads to All-Electric Vehicles, Bio-Fuel and
Citronella Candles”, but Vaping will be perfectly legal.
Good to note here that Jamaica hasn't banned e-cigarettes,
just that you have to have permission to import them so that import duties can
be appropriately assigned and their usage taxed as reported in my blog article
entitled “Ministry
of Health Bans e-cigarettes Ban Mix-up - Jamaica Customs Agency misinterpreted
MOH’s Regulatory Reminder as e-cigarettes to be Prescription only”.
Also I'm not in support of e-cigarettes as I'm opposed to
them due to their potential to introduce tobacco and Marijuana smoking among
teenagers as explained in my Geezam blog
article entitled “Dutch
company E-Njoint BV develops world’s first electronic Marijuana joint, the
E-Njoint”.
So we might be in for a change our policy on e-cigarettes
and smoking in general, as the ripple effect might soon be felt all around the
world.
PHE's Policy
supports Recreational smokers - University of Southern California e-cigarettes
study of Teenage smoking
So far the commentary on PHE's policy shift has been
positive, especially now that it's been shown to have negligible effect on the
health of smokers trying to quit.
To quote the Director of Health and Well-being at PHE, Kevin
Fenton: “E-cigarettes are not completely risk-free but when compared to
smoking, evidence shows they carry just a fraction of the harm. The problem is
people increasingly think they are at least as harmful and this may be keeping
millions of smokers from quitting. Local stop-smoking services should look to
support e-cigarette users in their journey to quitting completely.”
Still, there is a worry that this'll encourage recreational
smoking among persons who have never previous smoked traditional cigarettes to
perceive smoking e-cigarettes as being a safe way to indulge, potentially
resulting in taxpayers dollars being used to fund their habit.
These non-smokers, smoking e-cigarettes, may decide that
they want to try the real thing. E-cigarettes, potentially are a gateway drug
to smoking real cigarettes, which would explain why so many cigarette companies
are making BOTH e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes, giving both smokers
and recreational vapers options.
Their electronic nature means those smokers who make their
own vaping rigs, can use them to smoke other substances, such as liquefied THC
or even heroine or crack, cocaine.
Director of the smokers group Forest was quick to point this
out, as many Brits have take up e-cigarettes thinking it's an alternative way
to be in the smoking crowd without doing yourself harm, quote: “…. as a
state-approved smoking cessation aid ignores the fact that many people enjoy
vaping in its own right and use e-cigs as a recreational not a medicinal
product. If they want more smokers to switch to e-cigarettes, public health
campaigners should embrace consumer choice and oppose unnecessary restrictions
on the sale, marketing and promotion of this potentially game-changing
product”.
His idea seems to be supported by another study that
coincidentally came out on Tuesday August 18th 2015, a day before
the PHE made their declaration.
In that study, researchers from the University of Southern
California declared in the journal JAMA that adolescents were more likely to
develop the habit of smoking cigarettes once they began experiment with
e-cigarettes as reported in the article “Teens
who try e-cigarettes more likely to start smoking: study”, published
Tuesday Aug 18, 2015 by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters.
They did a survey of some 2,500 Los Angeles high-school
students over a period of a year starting in September when they were in the
ninth grade or Third form in the Jamaican High School System. At the start of the
study, the average age of the participants was 14 and they all declared that
they were not smoking, with only 220 declaring that they’d tried electronic
cigarettes.
This proved an interesting declaration, as at the end of the
yearlong study those 220 who’d declared that they'd used e-cigarettes were more
than twice as likely (100%) to begin smoking cigarettes during the ninth grade
and three times as likely (200%) to take up hookahs and four times as likely
(300%) to take up cigar smoking.
So although e-cigarettes may be safe, they also start the
cycle towards smoking cigars, cigarettes and hookas among teenagers. Adults
smoking recreationally, who should be a lot more grounded in their thinking,
will most likely not exhibit this behavior, but a long term study needs to be
conducted on adults to see how addictive nicotine is to their brains as well!
This and other studies on e-cigarette use are welcome and
hopefully they'll serve as guidance to the Ministry of Health as it relates to
their policy on e-cigarettes in Jamaica.
Here’s the link:
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