Contrary to what many addictologists do today, the HSCP advises against using electronic cigarettes to quit smoking.
- In 2020, 31.8% of 18-75 year olds smoked in mainland France, including 25.5% daily.
- In comparison, according to the WHO census in 2021, the prevalence of smoking was 17% in the United States, 11.4% in Australia and 13.9% in the United Kingdom.
The HCSP has updated its opinion of February 22, 2016 on the benefits and risks of electronic cigarettes, or SEDEN (electronic nicotine delivery system), and recommends that health professionals not offer vaping as a smoking cessation aid.
No therapeutic trials
Unlike drugs, the marketing of electronic cigarettes does not require the performance and publication of phase I to III studies in humans. “To date, to our knowledge, no manufacturer of SEDEN has published therapeutic trials evaluating the efficacy and tolerance of its product in smoking cessation. The published studies come from academic groups with mostly public subsidies”, explain the members of the HSCP.
“Thus, health professionals who accompany a smoker in a smoking cessation process must use drug or non-drug treatments, which have proven their effectiveness”, they write, thus aligning themselves with international recommendations.
Concerning young people in particular, the fact that vaping encourages a switch to tobacco is well documented by cohort studies. The HCSP therefore recommends, in the name of the precautionary principle, the maintenance of the ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors and that measures be taken to ensure the effectiveness and monitoring of its application.
37.4% of adults have tried vaping
Electronic nicotine delivery systems appeared in France in the early 2010s. The prevalence of use in the adult population was estimated for the first time at the end of 2013 by the French Observatory for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT) via the Etincel survey. They were then the subject of annual estimates via the Barometers of Public Health France.
After a rapid spread, the prevalence of vaping seems relatively stable for the past few years. In 2020, 37.4% of adults in France said they had already experienced it. 5.4% currently use electronic cigarettes, including 4.3% daily.
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