E-cigarettes are key to help people quit smoking
Rules around e-cigarettes should be relaxed so they can be more widely used and accepted in society, says a report by MPs.
Vaping is much less harmful than normal cigarettes and e-cigarettes should be made available on prescription to help more people quit smoking, it said.
The report also asks the government to consider their use on buses and trains.
There is no evidence e-cigarettes are a gateway into smoking for young people, Public Health England said.
The report on e-cigarettes, by the science and technology MPs’ committee, said they were too often overlooked by the NHS as a tool to help people stop smoking.
For example, it said it was “unacceptable” that a third of the 50 NHS mental health trusts in England had a ban on e-cigarettes on their premises, when there was a “negligible health risk” from second hand e-cigarette vapour.
In the report they call for:
- greater freedom for industry to advertise e-cigarettes
- relaxing of regulations and tax duties on e-cigarettes to reflect their relative health benefits
- an annual review of the health effects of e-cigarettes, as well as heat-not-burn products
- a debate on vaping in public spaces, such as on public transport and in offices
- e-cigarettes licensed as medical devices
- a rethink on limits on refill strengths and tank sizes
- an end to the ban on snus – an oral tobacco product which is illegal in the UK under EU rules
About 2.9 million people in the UK are currently using e-cigarettes.
It is estimated that 470,000 people are using them as an aid to stop smoking and tens of thousands are successfully quitting smoking each year as a result.
Although the report recognised the long-term health effects of vaping were not yet known, it said e-cigarettes were substantially less harmful than conventional cigarettes because they contained no tar or carbon monoxide.
Norman Lamb, chairman of the science and technology committee, said: “Current policy and regulations do not sufficiently reflect this and businesses, transport providers and public places should stop viewing conventional and e-cigarettes as one and the same.
“There is no public health rationale for doing so,” he said.
“Concerns that e-cigarettes could be a gateway to conventional smoking, including for young non-smokers, have not materialised.
“If used correctly, e-cigarettes could be a key weapon in the NHS’s stop-smoking arsenal.”
Mr Lamb said medically licensed e-cigarettes “would make it easier for doctors to discuss and recommend them as a stop-smoking tool to aid those quitting smoking”.
