A few days ago, the Haute Autorité de Santé published an article dealing with smoking cessation and presenting the tools to identify and support patients. Regarding the e-cigarette, this one states that at present, it is not possible to recommend electronic cigarettes in smoking cessation.
NO RECOMMENDATION FOR THE E-CIGARETTE DUE TO LACK OF DATA ON THEIR EFFECTIVENESS
Time passes but the speeches do not really change. While studies highlighting the safety of e-cigarettes are increasingly important, the HAS (Haute Autorité de Santé) clearly does not wish to be favorable on the subject of vaping. In one published article a few days ago, Estelle Lavie from the Professional Practices Department at HAS states:
« Currently, it is not possible to recommend e-cigarettes in smoking cessation because of insufficient data on their efficacy and long-term safety.
If a smoker refuses the recommended nicotine replacement means and chooses to use the electronic cigarette, he will be informed that it is not a currently validated treatment, but that the substances it contains are supposed to be less dangerous than those contained in the tobacco. Its use will not be discouraged but the patient will be accompanied in his process of stopping or reducing smoking. "
It might be time for the Haute Autorité de Santé to provide an update on the subject of vaping that it does not understand a priori. Let us hope that the new Minister of Health gives a positive impulse to the electronic cigarette by putting forward the reduction of the risks and the prevention vis-a-vis smoking.
