Public Health England Back E-cigarette Use

Public Health England (PHE) have today released a review of the evidence on electronic cigarettes. Professor Peter Hajek, the director of the Smokers' Clinic, and Professor Ann McNeill of King's College London, were lead authors on the report commissioned by PHE. The report concluded that e-cigarettes are an estimated 95% safer than conventional cigarettes and that there is evidence that they are effective in helping smokers to quit. There was no evidence that e-cigarettes are undermining declines in smoking or acting as a gateway for children to start smoking conventional cigarettes.

In response to this report, PHE set out the following advice:

• e-cigarettes potentially offer a wide reach, low-cost intervention to reduce smoking in more deprived groups in society where smoking is elevated, and we want to see this potential fully realised
• there is an opportunity for e-cigarettes to help tackle the high smoking rates among people with mental health problems
• local stop smoking services provide smokers with the best chance of quitting successfully and we want to see them engaging actively with smokers who want to quit with the help of e-cigarettes
• given the potential benefits as quitting aids, PHE looks forward to the arrival on the market of a choice of medicinally regulated products that can be made available to smokers by the NHS on prescription
• the latest evidence will be considered in the development of the next Tobacco Control Plan for England with a view to maximising the potential of e-cigarettes

To read the full response, click here 

The Smokers' Clinic is contributing to the increasing evidence base on electronic cigarettes by carrying out a study comparing their effectiveness as a quitting aid to that of Nicotine Replacement Therapy. For more information about the study and how to take part, click here