Entered by the Ministry of Health, the High Authority for Health judged that the data were still insufficient to recommend the e-cigarette in smoking cessation.
On the thorny issue of e-cigarettes, the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS), which issues recommendations for medical practice, has made its choice. As in january 2014, she just emitted an opinion unfavorable to the integration of electronic cigarettes in the medical arsenal for stopping smoking.
These new recommendations follow a referral from the Directorate General of Health (DGS). The HAS indicates that it has taken note of the recent British report from Public Health England. This concludes that the e-cigarette would be 95% less harmful than tobacco. Despite these data, the HAS considers that it does not yet have enough elements to justify a new change of position.
Specifically, the College of the High Authority for Health writes that “the data in the literature on the efficacy and harmlessness of electronic cigarettes are still insufficient to recommend it for smoking cessation”.
Do not discourage vapers either
In the past, she nevertheless considered that, because of its much less toxicity than a cigarette, its use in a smoker who has started vaping and who wants to stop smoking “should not be discouraged”. The HAS therefore always recommends that smokers talk about it with their doctor who will offer them “a personalized and adapted strategy to quit smoking”.
This opinion sounds like a new setback for the 120 doctors, health professionals, and scientists who recently published an appeal in favor of reducing the risks of tobacco, “by taking into account the potential of the e-cigarette”. Among their grievances, the Health bill which will be voted on in the National Assembly tomorrow. They denounce in particular the ban on the use of e-cigarettes in certain public places.
The deputies adopted last Friday, in new reading, an amendment to the Health bill removing the obligation for companies and schools to provide a specific space for the practice of vaping.
The measure further indirectly reinforces the principle of its prohibition in certain public places.
But to try to convince the Minister of Health one last time about the benefits of the device, the vapers have decided to continue their mobilization. Over 1,100 testimonials in favor of the product were thus registered on the blog by Marisol Touraine.
Among the quotes that can be read there: “Madam Minister, my daughter, my wife and I have all stopped smoking thanks to the vapoteuse.” Do not give in to an excess of precaution or to the various lobbies, let us vape in peace. Isn’t freedom the first word inscribed on the pediments of our public buildings? For the Free Vape! Thank you ! “
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