Following the publication of a series of questions / answers on the Tabac-Info-Service page about electronic cigarettes, AIDUCE has decided to write an open letter signed by Brice Lepoutre.
"Gentlemen,
The Aiduce (Independent Association of Users of Electronic Cigarette) is an association law 1901 whose objective is to represent users of electronic cigarette ("vape") and defend their freedoms while promoting a vape responsible . As such, she has become a privileged interlocutor of public authorities, scientific actors and the media in the representation of these users, and a first-rate speaker in the organization of conferences, reporting, or setting up standards for the vape.
This is how we took an active part in the Vape Summit held last May at the CNAM in Paris, in the presence of Mr. Benoît Vallet, Director General of Health. On the occasion of this summit called to renew itself and at the end of which the participants agreed to maintain more regular and regular contacts, we also drew the attention of Mr. Vallet on the need for an update of communication by public authorities about the vape, in order to take into account the evolution of the knowledge and the positions of the actors, and in particular the recognition of this one as a major tool of risk reduction in the fight against the harmful effects of smoking.
Health authorities can not claim to promote a policy of harm reduction while retaining a chosen language, not to say sometimes anxiety, on one of the main tools available to achieve their goal of A significant drop in smoking in France, when it appears that the potential of such tools should, with the usual precautions, be emphasized and put forward.
On this occasion, the communication on the vape by Tobacco Info Service was discussed with Mr. Vallet.
We seem to have noticed a change in your communication a few months ago, and appreciated the updates found on your page: https://www.tabac-info-service.fr/J-arrete-de-fumer/Je-choisis-ma-strategie/La-cigarette-electronique-et-la-sante. We welcome it and thank you for it.
However, it appears, without claiming to want to dictate your policy in this area, that certain points likely to maintain exaggeratedly anxieties, ambiguities, or misunderstandings, remain and deserve to be reformulated while respecting the concerns expressed at the Vape Summit. We therefore wish to draw your attention to these, as we did last January.
First of all, it seems to us that the evolution of knowledge about the modus operandi of nicotine as a source of dependence should lead to nuances of the comments made on your page or to at least a wider use of the conditional. No 
only the presence of other products of the combustion of tobacco cigarettes, absent from the vapor of e-cigarettes, but acting in parallel with nicotine is now regularly mentioned, but the importance of the speed of spread of nicotine and his ability to quickly satisfy the "craving" participates in a way now recognized to the amplitude of the phenomenon of dependence. But the nicotine delivered by the vape differs very significantly less rapidly than with tobacco smoke, hence a risk of dependence of a magnitude probably not comparable.
Also, if you mention 6 ("Is the e-cigarette effective for stopping smoking?"), The possibility that the vape could allow smokers to reduce their consumption, you do not mention curiously anywhere this ultimate goal - which we understand and share - of total cessation of tobacco, which the vape nevertheless allows to reach. The INPES data, also mentioned in a few lines below, show that in 2014, 400.000 people already estimated the number of people who totally gave up smoking thanks to the vape. While the reduction in the number of cigarettes smoked reduces the risks in absolute terms as you mention, the notion of risk reduction through the use of the vape goes much further since it is now established that the electronic cigarette allows in many cases a much more drastic reduction of these by a total cessation of smoking.
We also invite you to take a closer look at the results of the latest Paris Sans Tabac study conducted under the auspices of Professor Bertrand Dautzenberg, presented at the May 9 summit and confirm the first data obtained from previous studies: the use of the electronic cigarette by non-smokers remains marginal compared to the use of the smokers, and is then most often with non-nicotine e-liquids. We speak here of a real use and not an attempt of simple curiosity and no tomorrow. The vape thus appears not only rather as a retarder of the entry into smoking among those who begin with its channel, but especially as a tool much more heavily used to get out of it. These findings have also been confirmed by the 25 May publication in the BEH of the results of studies on the Constances cohort indicating that none of the exclusive non-smoking vapors of the 2013 cohort had become smokers in 2014. The electronic cigarette can thus not only be likely to help smokers quit but also to prevent nonsmokers from starting.
Finally, it seems to us, without going into the details, that the questions / answers page you devote to the subject would greatly deserve a serious and profound update, taking into account both the conclusions you reach on your other page and the proposals we make. let's introduce today. Several points in fact denote an old wording ("appearance of the cigarette tobacco") which significantly undermines its credibility with regard to the evolution of knowledge and scientific discourse on the vape to date. http://www.tabac-info-service.fr/Vos-questions-Nos-reponses/Cigarette-electronique.
We are happy to offer you the experience we have accumulated in recent years in the knowledge of the tool-vape, best practices for its use, and its users. . We are therefore at your disposal to discuss this universe which appears every day a little richer potential in the fight against smoking.
Finally, we hope that you will welcome our approach, which aims primarily to draw your attention to the unfortunate public health consequences of the persistence and dissemination of excessively anxiety-provoking information that would initially be ruled out among weaning one of the effective solutions still available today to them.
Thanking you for the attention you will give him,
Open Letter to Tobacco Info Service
We beg you to believe, gentlemen, in the assurance of our perfect consideration.
For the AIDUCE,
Brice Lepoutre "
Source : Aiduce.org
