This is new information that is likely to cause a stir in the world of tobacco and electronic cigarettes.
An independent study commissioned by the UK health authorities reveals that the electronic cigarette would be 95% less harmful to health than tobacco.
“E-cigarettes are not completely risk free but when compared to tobacco the results show that they have only a fraction of the harm,” said Professor Kevin Fenton of Public Health England. , co-author of this survey made public Wednesday, August 19. Indeed, most of the chemical components responsible for tobacco-related diseases are absent from electronic cigarettes. Passive inhalation of e-cigarette smoke is also less harmful to health than passive smoking.
For the authors, the electronic cigarette would therefore be a very good way to quit smoking. However, they regret that vaping is increasingly perceived as being as dangerous as conventional smoking.
More surprisingly, the study goes against the well-documented idea that e-cigarette use leads to youth tobacco. According to data obtained during the survey, almost all of the 2.6 million adult vapers in Britain are current or former smokers, who use it as a way to quit permanently. And only 2% of young Britons are regular e-cigarette users.
Funded by public funds, this study goes against the last report of the World Health Organization dated August 2014. It recommended a very strict framework for the use of electronic cigarettes, and in particular the prohibition its use in closed places and its sale to minors.
In France, if the sale is indeed prohibited to minors, the High Authority of Health has positioned itself for a tolerance with regard to the e-cigarette in the context of smoking cessation, without going so far as to recommend its use for smokers.
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