Experts in North East to debate e-cigarettes findings

Fresh hosted a Making Smoking History in the North East Partnership event last Thursday with attendees from across local government, the NHS, voluntary and community sector and academia coming together to explore the latest evidence on safety and effectiveness, and hear how the devices are helping thousands of smokers to quit.

It came just two weeks after Public Health England (PHE) released a major independent evidence review of e-cigarettes which made national headlines.

Experts who led the review, including Professor Ann McNeill, a professor of tobacco addiction at King’s College London, spoke at the event.

Professor McNeill said: “E-cigarettes are estimated to be substantially less harmful to health than tobacco, but it is a huge concern that many smokers are put off switching as they aren’t sure it will be better for their health. We do need to tackle these misconceptions.

“People smoke for the nicotine, but contrary to what the vast majority believe, nicotine causes little, if any, of the harm. The toxic smoke is the culprit and is the overwhelming cause of all the tobacco-related disease and death.”

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

For more information, visit www.freshne.com