Official government report finds electronic cigarettes are 95% less harmful than tobacco

Bit by bit, world health organizations are finally coming to a consensus surrounding the health risks of vaping e-cigarettes. A new report published by Public England Health (PHE), an agency of the UK’s Department of health, presents findings indicating that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking — the first ever official recognition ever. PHE believes that e-cigarette kits could someday be dispensed as anti-smoking treatment products similar to nicotine gum and patches.

The report was published at time when tobacco company-backed research on vaping has negatively swayed public opinion, suggests the PHE, adding that most people believe that e-cigarettes are as dangerous as traditional cigarettes. This perception, it explains, was “based on misinterpreted research findings” and may have kept millions of potential users from seeking e-cigarettes as an alternative on their path to quitting.

PHE’s research determined that the majority of chemicals perpetuating smoking-related disease are absent from e-cigarettes, and that the glycerin and glycol ethers as well as the other chemicals present pose limited danger. Kevin Fenton, director of health and wellbeing at PHE states: “E-cigarettes are not completely risk-free but when compared to smoking, evidence shows they carry just a fraction of the harm.”

While the report is supported by Dame Sally, the UK’s chief medical office, equivalent to the US Surgeon General, she cautions that “there continues to be a lack of evidence on the long-term use of e-cigarettes,” and that the devices should only be used a treatment when waning off traditional tobacco products. “I want to see these products coming to the market as licensed medicines. This would provide assurance on the safety, quality and efficacy to consumers who want to use these products as quitting aids, especially in relation to the flavorings used, which is where we know least about any inhalation risks.”

As with all controversial findings, PHE’s report is expected to draw public backlash after a recent correlation from the American Medical Association found that US high schools who vape are more likely to try tobacco cigarettes than non-vapers. Peter Hajek, of Queen Mary University, London, one of the independent authors of the PHE findings, refuted potential arguments against vaping being demonized as a gateway drug. He told The Guardian, “People who drink white wine are more likely to try red wine than people who do not drink alcohol,” and that the AMA’s study “just shows that [teenagers] who are attracted to e-cigarettes are the same people who are attracted to smoking,”

Source: Gizmodo via The Guardian