Public Health England conducted another review of the science and statistics available on E-cigarettes and have again concluded they are at least 95% less harmful than smoking traditional cigarettes and present an overall positive effect on the population. Their findings did come with controversy however, as overall public opinion and knowledge of E-cigarettes and vaping is still unclear, with many people incorrectly believing vaping is just has bad or worse than smoking. This is actually a trend that has been going up over the past 2 years, despite PHE endorsing vaping to smokers unwilling or unable to quit smoking. Many people incorrectly believe nicotine is the source for health issues caused by smoking as well. The report said there was “much public misunderstanding” about nicotine, with fewer than 10 percent of adults understanding that the vast majority of the harms from smoking are not caused by nicotine.”
While it shouldn’t come as any surprise that the public is misinformed on the subject, given how blatantly tobacco control groups in the US demonize vaping and use false scare tactics to discourage smokers making the switch. How often to you hear someone talking about “Pop-corn” lung still!?!?!
Professor John Newton, Director for Health Improvement at PHE said:
“It would be tragic if thousands of smokers who could quit with the help of an e-cigarette are being put off due to false fears about their safety”
Sadly, the policy differences in the UK vs. the US are being done so at the expense of millions of smokers life and health. If current FDA regulations go into effect as planned, the vape industry in the US will be decimated in just 4 years time. Hopefully by that time, UK will have such overwhelming success in bringing down the number of smokers and related health issues, that we here in the US will have no choice but to follow in their steps.