Doctors body strongly promotes e-cigarettes as healthier alternative to smoking

[Gizmo]

UK legislations currently does not set a specific nicotine limit for e-cigarettes and many users vape concentrations of up to about 30 or 35 milligrams per millilitre to replace the nicotine they formerly ingested from heavy smoking.

The Department of Health impact assessment says: “Consumers may switch to buying more lower concentration products due to no longer being able to purchase higher concentrations.

“This may lead to an increase in demand.

“Conversely, there may be a reduction in demand, as if users can’t get the desired nicotine level from e-cigarettes they may switch to cigarettes.”

The impact assessment continues: “There is a risk that due to the potential price increase and reduction of choice of e-cigarettes, people will choose to switch back to smoking, thus harming their health.”

The doctors' body says vaping is a far better alternative to smoking CREDIT: TELEGRAPH
As well regulating the size and strength of e-cigarettes, the Tobacco Products Directive places new rules on packaging and severely restricts the scope of manufacturers to advertise their products.

The RCP report, published yesterday, acknowledged the need for proportionate regulation but said rules should not be allowed to significantly inhibit the development and use of harm-reduction products, such as e-cigarettes.

The RCP said the long-term negative effects from vaping were ‘unlikely to exceed 5% of the harm from smoking tobacco’.

A department of health spokesman said: "By its nature an impact assessment is honest about risks, but these are far outweighed by the health benefits of the directive, which are worth more than £13billion to the UK.

"The best thing a smoker can do for their health is to quit smoking.

"We know that there are now over a million people who have completely replaced smoking with e-cigarettes and that the evidence indicates that they are significantly less harmful to health than smoking tobacco.

"We want to see a wide range of good quality e-cigarettes on the market including licenced products whose safety, quality and effectiveness are independently assured.”

Source ---> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/27/eu-to-make-e-cigarettes-weaker/

 

[Papa_Lazarou]

Y'know, something occurs to me as I read reports out of the UK.

I'm trying to think of another current social/heath issue that has such a false knowledge base. Everyone - doctors, legislators, citizens - thinks that they "know" smoking as it's been such a ubiquitous activity and so thoroughly discussed. Now they are commenting either for or against vaping using that "knowledge" (belief system, rather, in most cases).

With the exception of a few researchers (eg, the UK's Royal College), nobody seems to be genuine in saying they they are looking at vaping as if it were something new and separate from smoking. Rather, assumptions about vaping are made and arguments prepared relative to smoking - as if the latter actually defines the former. While I think we'd all agree that it does behaviourally (I know vaping is effective for me because it's an effective behavioural replacement for smoking and the smoking came first for me), it does not chemically or biologically (aside from nicotine, which is another debate - a sub-war in the tobacco/smoking drama).

My point is this - the arguments are, on the surface, about the chemistry but they are really about the behaviours. The anti's are running out of runway in terms of preaching "vaping will kill you just like cigarettes". What they are really saying is "vaping is a bad thing to do... because it mimics a very bad thing to do". It's pantomime smoking to them.

The smoke screen (irony intended) of "look... the science says it's bad" intended to get a quick decisive 'win' against vaping is clearing thanks to articles like the above. All that they'll be left with is "look... we just don't want to you vape because, well,... cigarettes".