E-cigarettes can help smokers quit smoking, according to an official report published today.
The devices are "significantly" less harmful than using tobacco, according to the Public Health England report.
They could be a "game changer" in public health, according to one of the report’s authors.
The report is the first by an official body to give backing to e-cigarettes, which have been condemned by the World Health Organisation.
But it comes as a US study claims a "possible" link between teenagers trying the devices and their moving on to become smokers.
But Public Health England says very few non-smokers, including teenagers, are taking up e-cigarettes.
The report says the biggest problem with e-cigarettes is that many people do not realise how much less harmful they are than tobacco.
It says that e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than smoking. The report says that almost all the 2.6 million adults using e-cigarettes are smokers or former smokers.
Fewer than 1% of non-smoking adults or teenagers are becoming e-cigarette users, it says.
Professor Kevin Fenton, from Public Health England, said: "E-cigarettes are not completely risk free but when compared to smoking, evidence shows they carry just a fraction of the harm. The problem is people increasingly think they are at least as harmful and this may be keeping millions of smokers from quitting.
"Local stop smoking services should look to support e-cigarette users in their journey to quitting completely."
One of the researchers Professor Peter Hajek, of Queen Mary, University of London, said: "My reading of the evidence is that smokers who switch to vaping remove almost all the risks smoking poses to their health. Smokers differ in their needs and I would advise them not to give up on e-cigarettes if they do not like the first one they try.
"It may take some experimentation with different products and e-liquids to find the right one."
And another of the authors, Professor Ann McNeill, of King’s College, London, said: "The evidence consistently finds that e-cigarettes are another tool for stopping smoking and in my view smokers should try vaping and vapers should stop smoking entirely.
"E-cigarettes could be a game changer in public health in particular by reducing the enormous health inequalities caused by smoking."
The British Medical Association called for more regulation of e-cigarettes.
The deputy chair of its Board of Science, Dr Ram Moorthy, said: “We need to see a stronger regulatory framework that realises any public health benefit they may have, but addresses significant concerns from medical professionals around the inconsistent quality of e-cigarettes, the way they are marketed, and whether they are completely safe and efficient as a way to reduce tobacco harm.”
The findings were welcomed by the Royal College of Physicians.
Professor John Britton, from the college, said: "The evidence published today demonstrates that e-cigarettes are not a significant gateway into smoking for a new generation, instead they will help existing generations of smokers to give up, reducing smoking related harm and saving lives."
* The US study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last night, studied the progress of 222 teenagers who had used e-cigarettes but not tobacco. These were compared with 2,308 who had touched neither product.
Researchers said that within six months 30.7% of those who had used e-cigarettes went on to smoke tobacco. This compared with 8.1% of those who had never used e-cigarettes.
Researcher Dr Adam Leventhal, of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, said: "While we cannot conclude that e-cigarette use directly leads to smoking, this research raises concerns that recent increases in youth e-cigarette use could ultimately perpetuate the epidemic of smoking-related illness."
JAMA 18 August 2015
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