UK Vaping Association Continues to Back PHE's Clear Guidance on Vaping

The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has released a new statement regarding a paper on e-cigarettes written under the leadership of Professor Thomas Munzel from Mainz University, which investigates the potential impacts of vaping and smoking on the heart and lungs.

John Dunne, chairman of the UKVIA, expressed disappointment at the continued dissemination of such highly questionable comments that undermine the clear public health potential of e-cigarettes. In the UK, over 75,000 people die each year from smoking-related diseases, making it crucial to properly assess harm reduction tools (such as e-cigarette products, which have been recognized by the UK Department of Public Health as one of the most successful smoking cessation methods) rather than resorting to speculation and scare tactics.

Dunne noted that the clear and decisive responses from leading UK experts on this issue are encouraging. Professors John Britton (Nottingham), Jamie Brown (UCL), Jacob George (Dundee), and Dr. Nick Hopkinson (Imperial) have all expressed caution regarding the methodology and findings of this paper, describing it as "unsystematic," "inappropriate," "unclear," and "misleading."

In 2019, Dundee University collaborated with the British Heart Foundation to investigate the effects of vaping on heart health. Contrary to the comments from Mainz University, this study found that smokers switching to nicotine-containing vaporizers could significantly improve their vascular health within four weeks, including blood pressure and arterial stiffness.

The British Heart Foundation's research involved 114 participants who smoked at least 15 cigarettes daily for at least two years, making it one of the largest studies of its kind.

UKVIA continues to support the clear guidance from Public Health England that vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking.