E-cig study in EU finds little use by non-smokers
Posted: Wednesday, June 29, 2016 12:15 am
By Richard Craver Winston-Salem Journal
A study on the use of electronic cigarettes and vaporizers in the European Union determined that nonsmokers rarely use them and that 67 percent of smokers who do use them either quit or smoked fewer traditional cigarettes.
The study, with researcher Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos of the University of Patras in Greece serving as principal investigator, involved 27,460 EU residents at least 16 years of age. It included representatives from all 28 member states.
The study was published in the journal Addiction, which has a focus on the potential harm-reduction elements of e-cigs and vaporizers.
“E-cigarette use in the European Union appears to be largely confined to current or former smokers, while current use and nicotine use by people who have never smoked is rare,” researchers said in their conclusion. Rare, in this instance, represented 2.3 percent of nonsmoking study participants.
According to the researchers, 35.1 percent of current e-cigarette users said they had stopped smoking regular cigarettes because of the devices, while another 32.2 percent reported smoking less.
By extrapolating study results, researchers determined that by using e-cigs and vaporizers, up to 6.1 million EU citizens have quit smoking traditional cigarettes and another 9.2 million have reduced their consumption.
“These are probably the highest rates of smoking cessation and reduction ever observed in such a large population study,” Farsalinos said in a statement.
Similar studies in the United States, such as the 2014 National Health Interview Survey, have found that up to 4 million Americans have quit traditional cigarettes through the use of e-cigs and vaporizers.
Jacques Le Houezec, a neuroscientist and researcher at the French National Research Institute for Health and Medical Research, said the study determined that “practically, there is no current or regular use of nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes by nonsmokers, so the concern that electronic cigarettes can be a gateway to smoking is largely rejected by our findings.”
The tobacco industry, anti-tobacco advocates and industry observers have waited since 2009 for a definitive scientific study on whether e-cigs are a reduced-risk alternative to traditional cigarettes.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration chose not to wait for such a study, issuing on May 5 a series of controversial final regulations projected to go into effect Aug. 8.
Products introduced into the marketplace after Feb. 15, 2007 — which includes almost every e-cig and vaporizer — would have to retroactively go through stiffer regulatory requirements to prove they don’t cause public harm.
Mitch Zeller, the director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said on May 5 the FDA concluded “that while there may be anecdotal reports that e-cigarettes are helping individual smokers get off of cigarettes, the Preventative Services Task Force and the published literature at this point don’t provide support for e-cigarettes being effective cessation aids.”
“There are still many open questions about are e-cigarettes a gateway to smoking more harmful products,” Zeller said.
The FDA is facing at least six lawsuits attempting to gain an injunction on implementing the restrictions.
Some studies, including from the Royal College of Physicians, have claimed that the products are up to 95 percent less harmful than traditional cigarettes.,
Other studies have recommended that e-cig and vaporizer manufacturers be limited, if not prohibited, from making any reduced-risk public-health claims.
“The majority of smokers are interested in quitting and it is essential for the FDA to ensure that consumers are not misled into choosing products based on inaccurate health-related claims,” said Elizabeth Klein, the study’s lead author and associate professor of health behavior and health promotion at Ohio State. Their study was released Monday in the journal Tobacco Regulatory Science.
Gregory Conley, the president of the American Vaping Association, said the study of EU e-cig users should serve “as a reality check for tobacco control” advocates.
“They have loudly proclaimed that there is no evidence that vapor products help smokers quit,” Conley said.
Scott Ballin, the past chairman of the Coalition on Smoking or Health, said he hopes researchers on both sides of the e-cig public-health issues “would one day collaborate on their studies so that we can get to the truth.”
“There is a lot of shoddy research going on out there, and the losers are the public,” Ballin said.
rcraver@wsjournal.com (336) 727-7376 @rcraverWSJ
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