Advocates say arguments against vaping are ‘weak’ and ‘nonsensical’ as the UK’s leading health watchdog includes e-cigarettes in its stop smoking guidance.
“Not only do we have the science on our side, but we now also have widespread support from the worlds of politics and health services.”
The UK has long stood as a shining beacon for tobacco harm reduction, spearheading the international effort to stub out smoking.
Its pro-vaping policies and progressive approach have been the envy of advocates around the world, who time and again have pointed to the country’s gold standard regulations.
Now, in yet another win for the industry, the nation’s leading health watchdog has – for the first time – included vaping in its stop smoking guidelines.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s latest report stressed that e-cigarettes should be ‘accessible to all adult smokers’.
It also called on medical staff to give ‘clear’ and ‘up-to-date’ information on vaping to those who are considering it as a stop smoking tool.
This included:
- The use of e-cigarettes is likely to be substantially less harmful than smoking
- Any smoking is harmful, so people using e-cigarettes should stop smoking tobacco completely
- While e-cigarettes are not currently medically licensed, they are regulated by the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations (TRPR).
The ground-breaking NICE report also urged experts to explain how to properly use vaping as a less harmful alternative.
Louise Ross, Interim Chair for the New Nicotine Alliance, said: “We welcome this guidance and hope healthcare professionals will feel more confident in supporting their patients to try vaping in order to stop smoking.”
She added that, if successful, the measures could cause a ‘significant fall’ in smoking rates, resulting in a ‘greater likelihood of achieving the Smokefree 2030 ambition’.
Supporters from across the country were quick to welcome the report, celebrating it as another victory in the ‘fight to stamp out smoking’.
John Dunne of the UK Vaping Industry Association said: “This new guidance is a significant milestone towards the mainstream acceptance that vaping is a safe and effective cessation method.
“Not only do we have the science on our side, but we now also have widespread support from the worlds of politics and health services.”
The UKVIA director general highlighted that, in the wake of mounting science and an expanding library of real-world evidence, the attacks on vaping are weakening.
He said: “Day by day the anti-vaping lobby’s arguments grow more nonsensical…to the point now where they’re pretty much an irrelevance.”