According to a recently published study, the lives of millions of smokers could be significantly extended if vaping was considered and accepted as an alternative to smoking within the next ten years.
According to an objective assumption by the research center at Georgetown University, Washington DC, a policy supporting the replacement of cigarettes with electronic cigarettes could bring a total of 86.7 million years of life for 6.6 million smokers.
Even in the worst case scenario, e-cigarettes could change the lives of millions of people, researchers say.
Furthermore, the researchers found that even under the most pessimistic predictions, the approximately 1.6 million smokers would still add about 20.8 million years to their lives.
David Levy, professor of medical oncology at Georgetown's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, acknowledged that the data suggest that vaping instead of smoking may be the simplest way to reduce tobacco use.
“A well-thought-out strategy for e-cigarettes could help us achieve our shared goal of reducing tobacco use,” Levy said in the report. “There is widespread agreement that tobacco is harmful and that public health can be improved.”
Mr. Levy also affirmed that people who use e-cigarettes are not at risk of being exposed to chemicals and carcinogens in cigarettes, although they still feel the stimulation and effectiveness of nicotine.
But it's unfortunate that the FDA is hampering that effort by designing a tobacco regulatory approach based on these products, said Louis DePalo, a professor of pulmonology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.
DePalo also said that nicotine gum and patches are FDA-approved nicotine products that are safe and can be used in counseling to help people overcome their addiction to tobacco. He also maintained that patches and gum do not provide the same satisfaction as e-cigarettes.
“E-cigarettes in an unregulated setting cannot be part of a comprehensive smoking cessation plan,” said DePalo, who was not involved in the study.
Levy and the team ran both a worst-case and best-case scenario for the study, with smokers using e-cigarettes and predicting how many people might switch in both cases.
In the optimistic scenario, it concludes
Smoking rates would fall to 5% from 16% if the majority of people chose e-cigarettes.
New smokers will be more inclined towards e-cigarettes.
People will quit both e-cigarettes and cigarettes at the same time.
E-cigarettes have only 5% of the health effects associated with cigarettes.
Adverse situations are the opposite of optimistic, it concludes.
About ten percent of the population still uses cigarettes, and e-cigarette use is expected to increase among non-smokers.
Vapers quit smoking at half the rate of smokers.
This somewhat dire view reflects some of the most recent scientific research on e-cigarettes.
But either way, both scenarios project that millions of smokers could live longer thanks to e-cigarettes.
“What scientists are finding is that it is not the nicotine that is causing the deaths,” Mr. Levy repeated. “It is the chemicals in tobacco that people are inhaling.”
Levy and Depalo are still debating whether, if the FDA regulates e-cigarettes, it could help these devices become a recognized mainstream method for quitting smoking.
Source: David Levy, Ph.D., professor, oncology, Georgetown University Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, DC; Louis DePalo, MD, professor, pulmonology, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York City; Tobacco Control, Oct. 2, 2017
