UK Study: E-Cigarettes Substantially Less Harmful Than Cigarettes; Governments Should Promote Them As Part of Their Smoking-Cessation Toolkit

Personally, I started at around 12mg of nicotine in the juice I loaded my e-cig with and have tapered it down to 1.5mg or 1 mg. (I mix 1 part 3mg and with about 2 parts 0mg nicotine so it's somwhere between those.)

I'm on a pain-free glide-path to being nicotine-free.

The UK government is promoting e-cigs even as the neopuritans in the US continue to shriek about how dangerous it is to puff on something that kinda-sorta looks like a cigarette.

While the federal government considers increased regulation for electronic cigarettes, the United Kingdom is moving in the opposite direction, calling for a change in national policy that sees e-cigarettes as an important tool for smoking cessation.

A report released by the Science and Technology Committee in Parliament last month found e-cigarettes "substantially less harmful" than conventional cigarettes. The report recommends relaxing regulation so that approval of e-cigarettes can be "streamlined" and asks policymakers to reconsider allowing their use in public places.

The report also found no evidence that vaping is a gateway to traditional cigarette smoking for teens.

"Smoking remains a national health crisis and the Government should be considering innovative ways of reducing the smoking rate," said Norman Lamb, the chair of the Science and Technology Committee. "E-cigarettes are less harmful than conventional cigarettes, but current policy and regulations do not sufficiently reflect this and businesses, transport providers and public places should stop viewing conventional and e-cigarettes as one and the same. There is no public health rationale for doing so."

Lamb, a member of the Liberal Democrat party, said the National Health Service should use e-cigarettes for health promotion rather than demonize them.

"Concerns that e-cigarettes could be a gateway to conventional smoking, including for young nonsmokers, have not materialised," he said. "If used correctly, e-cigarettes could be a key weapon in the NHS's stop smoking arsenal."

Elizabeth Harrington's article notes that Michael Bloomberg banned e-cigs being used in public spaces and "blue states followed." The love to nanny you and worry about nonsense.

posted by Ace of Spades at 05:15 PM

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