Hospitals should sell e-cigarettes while removing smoking shelters, according to new English guidance published today.
A Public Health England report says vaping carries 5% of the harm of cigarette smoking.
It calls for a new drive in the NHS to ensure hospitals and other health centres do their best to discourage smoking.
The agency says there is little evidence that vaping leads young people to take up smoking.
It says that smoke-free trusts should sell e-cigarettes alongside nicotine replacement therapies. They should also remove any external smoking shelters.
The trusts should also make it clear that their policies on vaping are intended to help smokers to quit.
Professor John Newton, from Public Health England, said: “Our new review reinforces the finding that vaping is a fraction of the risk of smoking, at least 95% less harmful, and of negligible risk to bystanders. Yet over half of smokers either falsely believe that vaping is as harmful as smoking or just don’t know.
“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.”
Professor Ann McNeill, from King’s College London, author of a report for Public Health England, said: “It’s of great concern that smokers still have such a poor understanding about what causes the harm from smoking. When people smoke tobacco cigarettes, they inhale a lethal mix of 7,000 smoke constituents, 70 of which are known to cause cancer.
“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.
“There are now a greater variety of alternative ways of getting nicotine than ever before, including nicotine gum, nasal spray, lozenges and e-cigarettes.”
Leave a Reply