UK Public Health: Despite US Panic, We Still Support E-cigarettes

On November 1, according to foreign media reports, John Newton, Director of Health Improvement at Public Health England (PHE), insisted that even after a series of e-cigarette-related deaths and illnesses in the United States, vaping remains far less harmful than smoking.

According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of October 31, 1,888 Americans had been hospitalized and at least 37 people had died from the mysterious lung illness.

PHE states that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking and encourages traditional smokers to switch to e-cigarettes.

Newton reiterated that although vaping in the U.S. has triggered panic, PHE's advice regarding nicotine-containing e-cigarettes has not changed.

Newton said, "What concerns us is that the response to this issue in the U.S. and other countries may worsen widespread misunderstandings about the relative safety of nicotine e-cigarettes. This could discourage smokers from switching to e-cigarettes and even risk pushing former smokers back to smoking."

However, Newton added that e-cigarette users should avoid buying unregulated devices.

Newton made these comments as new data showed that a record number of people in the UK are using e-cigarettes.

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) estimates that there are 3.6 million vapers in the UK, while there were 7.2 million smokers in the UK in 2018.

The proportion of former smokers who have switched to e-cigarettes has continued to rise, reaching 54.1% in 2019. Among people who have never smoked, only 0.8% are current e-cigarette users.

Meanwhile, the proportion of dual users of cigarettes and e-cigarettes has fallen to 39.8%. The main reason current smokers use e-cigarettes is to cut down on smoking (21%), followed by saving money compared with smoking (16%), and then to help them quit smoking (14%).

ASH Chief Executive Deborah Arnott said: "The outbreak of vaping-related illness in the United States is clearly concerning, but it appears to be linked to the misuse of vaping products for illegal drug delivery. So far, there have been no such cases in the UK, where an appropriate regulatory system for nicotine-containing e-cigarettes is already in place, unlike in the United States. Crucially, people should only use legal e-cigarettes purchased from reputable suppliers in the UK, and should not source illegal, unregulated products over the internet."