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Challenging the American consensus on e-cigarettes: The English raise the ante

Date:
April 6, 2016
Source:
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
Summary:
To e-puff or not to e-puff: that is the question. Public Health England recently released an evidence review claiming that e-cigarettes are 95 percent less harmful to health than combustible cigarettes. In recommending that smokers who cannot or will not quit cigarettes try e-cigarettes, PHE takes a position on the opposite side of the aisle from the US, where tobacco control advocates, public health officials, and policymakers are critical of e-cigarettes.
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FULL STORY

To e-puff or not to e-puff: that is the question. Public Health England (PHE), a governmental body the equivalent of our Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recently released an evidence review claiming that e-cigarettes are 95 percent less harmful to health than combustible cigarettes. In recommending that smokers who cannot or will not quit cigarettes try e-cigarettes, PHE takes a position on the opposite side of the aisle from the U.S., where many prominent tobacco control advocates, public health officials, and policymakers are critical of e-cigarettes. Viewpoints in the U.S. range most commonly from unequivocally denouncing e-cigarettes and linking them with adverse health risks to a far less frequent willingness to consider these devices to hold promise for moving tobacco smokers to a less harmful product, a belief held by the Truth Initiative (formerly the American Legacy Foundation).

In a new, thought-provoking "Perspective" in the New England Journal of Medicine, the debate continues. Researchers from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health draw on the history of harm reduction in the UK and U.S., comparing the UK's conclusion in 1926 that drug addiction was an illness that should be treated by physicians with safe drug practices to the very different U.S. stance of refusing drugs to addicts as a treatment practice. Comparisons like these led the researchers to the question: Do electronic cigarettes work against reducing tobacco smoking or offer the possibility of minimizing harm for those who just cannot quit tobacco cigarettes?

When the PHE report was released, the authors were immediately chastised for recommending that smokers try e-cigarettes. In "E-cigarettes: Public Health England's evidence-based confusion," the editors of The Lancet seized on the methodological limits of one of the many studies on which the review had relied. They concluded, "PHE claims that it protects and improves the nation's health and well-being.... On this occasion, it has fallen short of its mission." In The British Medical Journal, academic experts asserted that PHE had failed to meet the most basic evidentiary standard of public health policy.

Nevertheless, 12 prominent UK public health organizations supported the PHE's report and agreed that switching to the nearly harmless e-cigarettes with the support of a smoking cessation service could assist smokers to quit tobacco altogether. According to estimates, as many as 2.6 million adults in Britain currently use e-cigarettes.

In the U.S., opinion is more uniform. The organization Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids explicitly denounces e-cigarettes, and the CDC warns that smokeless cigarettes may be associated with health risks. This is at the same time that the chairman of the UK anti-tobacco organization Action on Smoking and Health said it would be "a public health tragedy if smokers were discouraged from switching to electronic cigarettes."

The emergence of e-cigarettes continues to evoke a fierce debate in the public health community, both domestically and abroad. So where do we go from here? We would be delighted to put you in touch with the authors for their further insights.


Story Source:

Materials provided by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Sharon H. Green, Ronald Bayer, Amy L. Fairchild. Evidence, Policy, and E-Cigarettes — Will England Reframe the Debate? New England Journal of Medicine, 2016; 374 (14): 1301 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1601154

Cite This Page:

Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. "Challenging the American consensus on e-cigarettes: The English raise the ante." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 6 April 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160406181534.htm>.
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. (2016, April 6). Challenging the American consensus on e-cigarettes: The English raise the ante. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160406181534.htm
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. "Challenging the American consensus on e-cigarettes: The English raise the ante." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160406181534.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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