Campaign group welcomes new e-cigarettes report

The report, produced by independent experts for Public Health England (PHE), updates evidence on e-cigarette use, their effectiveness as an aid to quitting, the risks to health compared to smoking and public understanding of those risks.

PHE goes on to urge smokers and public bodies to act on the evidence.

The report suggests that just under three million people currently use e-cigarettes, but that the numbers using them have now levelled off. E-cigarettes are likely to be helping at least 20,000 people to quit smoking every year. Those smokers who switch completely to vaping are likely to cut health risks substantially.

The report also concludes that the evidence does not support concerns that e-cigarettes are a route into smoking among young people.

Ailsa Rutter, director of Fresh, said: “Tobacco smoking kills one in two smokers and North-East hospitals see 38,000 hospital admissions every year from smoking. Vaping is not smoking and we do need to end the confusion around this.”

She added: “Most people who vape are doing so with the aim of switching from tobacco, Electronic cigarettes products are now the country’s most popular quitting aid and we need to support anyone using them to stay tobacco-free. We fully support PHE’s recommendation that smokers who have struggled to quit should try vaping as an alternative to smoking.”

To read the full report, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/news/phe-publishes-independent-expert-e-cigarettes-evidence-review