The electronic cigarette, or e-cigarette, is about 95% less harmful than tobacco and its use should be encouraged with smokers wishing to stop.
These conclusions result from a study carried out by an organization dependent on the health authorities of Great Britain. “Electronic cigarettes are not completely risk free, but when you compare them to tobacco, the results show that they only involve a fraction of harmfulness ", said Professor Kevin Fenton, of Public Health England, author of the investigation made public Wednesday.
Fewer toxic products
Most of the chemicals responsible for tobacco-associated illnesses are absent from e-cigarettes and the current best estimate is that e-cigarettes are about 95% less harmful than conventional cigarettes, according to this study. Passive inhalation of electronic cigarette fumes would also be less harmful to human health than passive smoking.
This publicly funded study runs counter to the findings of a report by World Health Organization as of August 2014. This WHO report recommended a strict framework for the use of electronic cigarettes, in particular the prohibition of its use in a closed environment and its sale to minors. According to the study of Public Health England, the electronic cigarette could on the contrary be an inexpensive means of reducing tobacco consumption in disadvantaged areas where the proportion of smokers remains high.
Help to crush
“The results consistently show that the e-cigarette is an additional tool to quit smoking and from my point of view smokers should try vaping. and those who vape should completely quit smoking ”, said Professor Ann McNeil, who contributed to the study.
This report further rejects the link established between electronic cigarette use during adolescence and tobacco use in adulthood.
On the other side of the Channel, a tool to get by
Almost all of the 2,6 million adults e-cigarette users in Great Britain are current or former smokers who use it as a means to quit smoking and only 2% of young people 
Britons are regular users of the e-cigarette, according to this study.
Tobacco companies like Philip Morris International et British American Tobacco (BAT) see electronic cigarettes as a way to offset declining sales in Great Britain and the United States, and they have undertaken to buy out e-cigarette manufacturers.
Source : ouest-france.fr/
Photo credit : Vaping360
