Research results recently announced by experts at a British university show that switching from smoking regular cigarettes to smoking electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) could save the lives of more than 50,000 smokers in this country each year.
Research by Professor Robert West and Dr Jamie Brown of University College London shows that for every 1 million smokers in the UK who switch from smoking to e-cigarettes, more than 6,000 premature deaths would be prevented each year.
Thus, if all 9 million current smokers in this country switched to e-cigarettes, 54,000 lives would be saved each year.
The findings come just a week after the World Health Organization (WHO) called on governments to tighten regulations on e-cigarette advertising and marketing and ban indoor vaping amid concerns that young people may start vaping and then switch to regular cigarettes.
According to the British Government, the country will not ban electronic cigarettes indoors, but will apply additional regulations related to marketing, sales and advertising content of this product in the near future.
Even within the medical community, there is a divide over the use of e-cigarettes. Some experts believe that e-cigarettes are a front for the tobacco industry to “renormalize” smoking, while others argue that e-cigarettes are a powerful tool for quitting smoking.
Professor Ann McNeill of King's College London said that e-cigarettes were a new product and although there were not yet all the answers to the question of long-term health impacts, they were certainly much safer than conventional cigarettes - which are responsible for the deaths of more than 6 million people worldwide each year.
Source: theguardian.com
