ELECTRONIC cigarettes have the potential to "radically reduce harm" from smoking and should be promoted as a public health tool, according to a new report.
A wide-ranging study by the UK's Royal College of Physicians stresses that while long-term exposure to vapour from the nicotine-replacement devices is "unlikely to be harmless", the risk is a fraction of that posed by the carcinogens, carbon monoxide and other dangerous toxins released by tobacco products.
The researchers also insist there is no evidence that the growing popularity of e-cigarettes is re-normalising smoking or discouraging existing smokers from quitting.
Professor John Britton, chair of the RCP’s Tobacco Advisory Group, said: "The growing use of electronic cigarettes as a substitute for tobacco smoking has been a topic of great controversy, with much speculation over their potential risks and benefits.
"This report lays to rest almost all of the concerns over these products, and concludes that, with sensible regulation, electronic cigarettes have the potential to make a major contribution towards preventing the premature death, disease and social inequalities in health that smoking currently causes in the UK.
"Smokers should be reassured that these products can help them quit all tobacco use forever."
The report, 'Nicotine without Smoke: putting electronic cigarettes in context', states that almost all of the UK's 2.6 million e-cigarette users are or have been smokers, and one third of users no longer smoke traditional cigarettes.
The electronic devices have been a more successful cessation tool than other nicotine-replacement therapies because they "reproduce many of the behavioural and sensory characteristics of smoking" and deliver a sufficient nicotine high to replicate a cigarette hit for addicts.
Smokers who turn to e-cigarettes to help them quit are "around 50 per cent more likely to succeed" than those who go cold turkey or use traditional aids such as nicotine patches or gum. However, smokers who access stop-smoking services remain "two to three times" more likely to succeed, indicating that these remain a vital public health tool.
The researchers acknowledge that long-term exposure to e-cigarette vapour is likely to be associated with an "increased risk" of conditions including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease, "the magnitude of this risk ... is unlikely to exceed five per cent of the harm from smoking tobacco".
The authors note that while the tobacco industry's increasing presence in the e-cigarette market is a "cause for concern", they warn against excessive regulation which may reduce choice for smokers and potentially deter the uptake of e-cigarettes.
Professor Jane Dacre, RCP president, said: "With careful management and proportionate regulation, harm reduction provides an opportunity to improve the lives of millions of people.
"It is an opportunity that, with care, we should take."
The report has also been welcomed by health charities.
Professor Linda Bauld, one of the report's authors and a cancer prevention expert for Cancer Research UK at Stirling University, said there was growing evidence that e-cigarettes "provide a new escape route" from smoking.
Sheila Duffy, chief executive of ASH Scotland, said: “All the information we have suggests that someone moving completely from tobacco cigarettes to electronic cigarettes will greatly reduce the health risks, but to get these benefits they need to stop using tobacco altogether.
“Electronic cigarettes need to be regulated to improve quality and reliability. There should also be restrictions to prevent promotion to non-smokers, particularly children. But we should maintain the strongest regulation on tobacco, which is the most harmful product.”
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