A House of Commons hearing on Tuesday to hear evidence on the impact of vaping in the UK on health conditions, legal challenges and economics, gives experts a chance to counter common public criticism of the technology.
The Science and Technology Committee met with Professor Riccardo Polosa, Professor Peter Hajek, Dr. Jamie Brown, and others to take a closer look at vaping. The hearing was well-paced, with experts highlighting the safety of vaping compared to smoking and its benefits for those trying to quit, and providing a rationale for the media hysteria surrounding the topic.
The hearing was held to discuss the pros and cons of vaping, and to address the gap in public awareness of the risks and how to properly and effectively regulate e-cigarettes.
“Some people see vaping as a useful tool to reduce smoking, while others see it as a tool to normalize smoking among younger generations,” explained council member Norman Lamb.
“We want to know where the gaps in the evidence system lie, the impact of regulatory legislation, and the impact of this growing industry on NHS costs and UK public funds.”
In addition to the live Q&A session, over 80 proposals were submitted to the committee for consideration from vape associations, tobacco companies, pharmaceutical companies, professors, universities, vape company charities and individuals.
This mixed message is no longer surprising. We have well-documented and well-argued statements from Clive Bates, the Royal College of Physicians, and Cancer Research UK (among others). On the other hand, we have anti-vaping rhetoric and hate speech from the likes of Martin McKee, Pfizer, etc.
The hearing painted a rosy picture of vaping overall. Professors Peter Hajek, Mark Conner and Riccardo Polosa provided a broad overview of the available evidence in the first part, while Professors Lion Shahab, Jamie Brown and Paul Aveyard made relevant points in the second part.
Researchers highlighted the key benefits of vaping and outlined data showing that vaping is safer than smoking . For example, Professor Shahab summarized his research showing that vapers reduced their exposure to 95% of the harmful chemicals in cigarettes. Professor Polosa discussed his research on vapers who had never smoked and had no negative symptoms.
The effects on bystanders from vaping were also dismissed. “I would be more concerned about breathing the air in Westminster than having someone vaping next to me,” Professor Polosa said.
Dr Jamie Brown discusses the positive signs in the Smoking Toolkit study that vaping helps smokers quit, and encourages smoking cessation services to offer vaping advice to smokers. Professor Aveyard discusses the Cochrane Review on the effectiveness of vaping in smoking cessation, saying that while there are still concerns, vaping has doubled the chances of people quitting compared to those who do not seek help.
TPD regulations were also discussed during the session, mainly on the counterproductive effects of nicotine limits, meaningless packaging and new warnings, which Professor Hajek described as pointless. Dr Brown also pointed out that countries that had taken a cautious approach to vaping, such as Australia, had been forced to change their stance when positive data emerged.
Fears of normalising smoking are also disputed by experts, who point out that very few regular vapers are younger generations, with Professor Aveyard emphasizing that vaping is the shortest route to quitting and very few cases of reversing.
The committee and experts also pointed to the media’s exaggerated claims about the dangers of vaping. Dr. Shahab pointed out that the media often exaggerates the results of research, such as a study showing hardening of the blood vessels being mistaken for “e-cigarettes cause heart disease,” even though exercise can also affect blood vessels. Professor Riccardo Polosa said such exaggerated headlines are just to attract attention and do not reflect the actual evidence.
On future regulatory action, the panel agreed that overly restrictive regulations would do more harm than good. Professor Aveyard said that overly restrictive policies would increase the perception that e-cigarettes are harmful.
The UK remains at the forefront of accepting vaping as a smoking cessation method. Professor Peter Hajek says the US’s focus on nicotine and its role as a villain may be behind the vaping divide between the US and the UK.
Overall, the hearing seems to have had a very strong impact on the development of vaping in the UK. What we can hope is that this positivity can spread to other parts of the world.
Source: Lee Johnson - Vaping360
Translated by: The Vape Club
