Why Does the UK Support Vaping While Many Countries Ban It?

Written by Zhang Dailai, Financial National Weekly correspondent in London

 

Will the UK government continue to support e-cigarettes after various "bans" have been implemented in other countries? 

 

When it comes to e-cigarettes, the UK may be the most friendly country. Whether government departments, health agencies, or medical experts, they generally view e-cigarettes as a safer alternative to traditional tobacco.

 

The UK e-cigarette market has developed rapidly in recent years, with the number of e-cigarette users quickly approaching half that of traditional smokers. Thanks to strict regulation by the government and the industry on the quality of e-cigarette production and nicotine content, the UK has not experienced any large-scale or serious health issues related to e-cigarettes.

 

Even so, debates about the harms of e-cigarettes and concerns about underage use have persisted in the UK.

 

After various "bans" on e-cigarette products have been implemented in countries like the U.S., will the UK continue to recognize and support e-cigarettes?

 

Why the government supports it

As the third-largest e-cigarette consumer market in the world, the UK is one of the countries most supportive of e-cigarette development.

 

In 2017, the UK Department of Health published a policy document titled "Towards a Smoke-Free Generation: England's Tobacco Control Plan," which outlined a five-year plan to achieve a "smoke-free generation." The document clearly states that e-cigarettes are an effective method to help smokers quit, and the UK government's support for this innovative smoking cessation method is key to achieving the "smoke-free generation" strategy.

 

"Increasing evidence shows that e-cigarettes are far less harmful to health than smoking regular cigarettes. The government will continue to support consumers in quitting smoking and adopting less harmful nicotine products," the Department of Health's policy document states.

In 2018, the UK began allowing the sale of e-cigarettes in hospitals and provided e-cigarette lounges for patients to encourage those with nicotine addiction to transition from traditional tobacco to e-cigarettes and ultimately quit smoking.

The UK government's and medical community's support for e-cigarettes primarily stems from an independent review report by Public Health England (PHE) in 2015. The review concluded that e-cigarettes are 95% safer than conventional tobacco for users' health and have helped tens of thousands of smokers quit.

This data has since been widely promoted by the UK government and health institutions such as the National Health Service (NHS) as a powerful tool for promoting e-cigarettes as an alternative to conventional tobacco.

Subsequently, the UK government required Public Health England to update its safety review of e-cigarettes annually until 2022 and publish review reports every February. To date, each annual report continues to "support" the efficacy of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid.

In addition to medical research proving the safety of e-cigarettes, there have been no serious cases related to e-cigarettes in real life in the UK. Unlike the rampant use of e-cigarettes among young people in the U.S., the popularity of e-cigarettes has not surged among non-smoking youth in the UK. Surveys targeting adult smokers in the UK also indicate that the vast majority use e-cigarettes to quit traditional tobacco.

All of this indicates that in the UK, e-cigarettes still maintain their original intention and positioning — as a tool to help adults quit combustible cigarettes. This has become an important reason why UK authorities continue to support e-cigarettes.