Le Dr. Anne-Laurence Le Faou, addictologist and president of the French Tobacco Society was yesterday on the show " Health Magazine »Broadcast on France TV in order to speak of “e-cigarette”. According to her, it would be important to record the side effects of e-cigarettes in order to be able to assess the risks.
“WE CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT THERE IS NO RISK! "
The declaration of adverse reactions is not mandatory for the e-cigarette because it is not a drug. Yesterday the Dr. Anne-Laurence Le Faou, addictologist and president of the Société française de tabacologie was questioned in Health Magazine " on this topic.
- What do we know today about the harmful effects of the electronic cigarette ?
Dr. Anne-Laurence Le Faou : " The electronic cigarette is not a medicine so undesirable effects are not recorded. The scientific literature shows, for example, that someone who uses this electronic cigarette and has a lung pathology may have an exacerbation of his symptoms, including coughing. But overall, we do not monitor adverse effects. »
- Is there an increased risk of heart attack as shown by a recently published American study ?
Dr. Anne-Laurence Le Faou : " This increased risk has been shown by an American study. Indeed, when you have "shots" of a foreign substance which suddenly arrives at the level of the blood vessels, there is inevitably a vascular reaction but to be certain, it is necessary to record the undesirable effects, to make them declare. with a specific system to build knowledge on risks. We cannot guarantee that there is no risk »
"We cannot recommend it as we do for drugs whose effectiveness is scientifically proven" - Dr. Anne-Laurence Le Faou
- Is the electronic cigarette effective for smokers who want to stop ?
Dr. Anne-Laurence Le Faou : " Meta-analyzes have been done to evaluate the effectiveness of the electronic cigarette in smoking cessation but the results are contradictory. It takes several years to collect data but the devices are constantly evolving, there is always something new. So each time, the studies that are published relate to models with different mechanisms. For example, the latest product uses heated tobacco. On this, we have a Swiss study that shows that toxic products are released in large quantities because the combustion is incomplete. »
- Should we continue to offer e-cigarettes as a weaning tool ?
Dr. Anne-Laurence Le Faou : " It cannot be recommended as it is for drugs whose effectiveness is scientifically proven. But we do not recommend it. Simply, to avoid these “shoots” I was talking about, we will give additional treatment such as patches or drugs such as varenicline or bupropion, which work well.«
