The government is launching a new campaign to try and convince the UK’s smokers that vaping is considerably less harmful as smoking and a good way to quit, in a bid to counter the scepticism generated by some scientific studies and media headlines.
Public Health England (PHE), which maintains that vaping is 95% less harmful than tobacco, is releasing a short video a good experiment which reveals the total number of sticky black tar that accumulates in the lungs of a heavy smoker, collected in a bell jar. By contrast, exact nicotine intake through vaping releases only a trace of residue.
It would be tragic if thousands of smokers who could quit by building an e-cigarette are being put off due to false fears about safety, said Prof John Newton, director of health improvement at PHE.
We need to reassure smokers that switching with regard to an e-cigarette would be less harmful than smoking. This demonstration highlights the devastating harms caused by every cigarette and helps people see that vaping is planning to pose only a fraction of the risk.
PHE says the risks from vaping are tiny compared to smoking. Some studies that have been published focus on the dangers without looking at those of cigarettes. A lab study on Birmingham University in August, for instance, claimed that vaping could harm cells in the lungs. So the authors said they decided not to believe e-cigarettes were more harmful than ordinary cigarettes, they suggested that over 20 or 30 years there might be an effect and urged cautious scepticism about the safety of vaping.
Martin Dockrell, head of the tobacco control programme at PHE, said all of the scientists in industry had ambitions to further improve health. We like to think of our scientists as being detached about these things, but actually the scientists linked this area on sides are deeply passionate about it, he said.
Studies about the risks of chemicals in e-cigarettes run prominently in the media content. Some were misleading and others were contradictory, said Dockrell. People don’t know who to believe and they believe the thing that will fit them best, he said. A smoker who finds it hard to quit may not want to believe that e-cigarettes are less harmful.
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