Why PHE's Policy document on e-cigarettes says they are safe despite University of Southern California study of Teenage smoking

“..........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 19^th 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 18^th 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:

E-cigarettes: a new foundation for evidence-based policy and practice