According to a study by the British Ministry of Health, electronic cigarette is 95% less harmful than tobacco and should be promoted as an ancillary tool for stopping smoking. Smoking is safer than smoking and could lead to the collapse of traditional cigarettes, according to the Department of Public Health (PHE), in the first official recognition that electronic cigarettes are less harmful to health than tobacco consumption.
The PEC concluded that on the basis of the so-called "best estimate" of the issue, electronic cigarette is about 95% less harmful than conventional cigarettes and could be distributed as a certified medicine as an alternative to anti- smoking, such as patches. In addition, passive inhalation from the device is also much less damaging. While stressing that electronic cigarettes help reduce harm, PHE believes electronic cigarettes have the potential to contribute significantly to smoking cessation."Electronic cigarettes when compared to smoking, the evidence suggests that they are only part of the damage," said Professor Kevin Fenton of the Department of Public Health England at the British Ministry, who led the survey. Dame Sally Davies, director of the UK Medical Department, said: "I want to see these products marketed as prescription drugs. This would reassure consumers who want to quit smoking for the safety, quality and efficiency of electronic cigarettes."No electronic cigarette has been licensed, unlike other nicotine replacement therapies, such as chewing gums, lozenges and patches. Pilots in Leicester and the City of London allow smokers to offer free electronic cigarettes.
In other areas, however, smokers can not buy electronic cigarettes on prescription. England's Public Health Minister, Jane Ellison, reminded smokers that the best thing they can do to avoid falling victim to the number one killer in the country is to stop it completely. "Although we recognize that electronic cigarettes can help adults stop smoking, we still want to protect children from the dangers of nicotine.
This is the reason why we have made electronic cigarettes illegally in people under 18, "added the Minister. The survey showed that nearly all 2.6 million adults in Britain currently believed to use electronic cigarettes are now or former smokers of conventional cigarettes. Most even use the electronic cigarette to help them stop smoking permanently or prevent them from returning to it.
There was no suggestion that the products were a gateway into tobacco smoking, with less than 1% of adults or young people who had never smoked becoming regular cigarette users. The findings of this state-funded survey contradict a report by the World Health Organization in 2014 that called for stringent regulations in relation to electronic cigarette, including the ban on indoor use and sale to minors.
Smoking kills about 100,000 people a year in the UK, most of those in England where there are thought to be eight million tobacco users. But official figures suggest smoking is now at its lowest prevalence since records started in the 1940s.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/aug/19/public-health-england-e-cigarettes-safer-than-smoking
http://www.euro2day.gr/news/world/article/1355236/ligotero-epivlaves-to-hlektroniko-tsigaro.html
