Disappointment at latest EU Report on E-Cigarettes
The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has responded with bitter disappointment at the EU Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) final report on e-cigarettes.
On a day when the NHS has announced it will trial plans to provide e-cigarettes to smokers attending A&E departments and the latest Cochrane Review has found that nicotine e‐cigarettes may help more people to stop smoking more than no support or behavioural support only, the SCHEER Report looks out of touch and completely at odds with the latest research and evidence.
Cancer Research UK continues to support vaping as a treatment to help smokers to quit and Public Health England has repeatedly stated that e-cigarettes are far less harmful than smoking.
Commenting UKVIA Director General, John Dunne said: “Once again SCHEER fail to properly take into account the evidence, research and testimony given to the Committee during the consultation process. If the EU continues to take such a negative approach to the harm reduction potential of vaping, the implications for public health will be significant.
We have always believed that the approach to vaping should be evidence based and science led, and as growing evidence supports the use of vaping in smoking cessation, other countries around the world should take notice of the progressive approach that the UK is taking.
Only today the NHS has announced that from the Autumn smokers coming to the emergency departments of five hospitals across the UK will be provided with vaping devices and e-liquids to help them quit as part of a trial funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
This year the review of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations allows for the UK to go even further in supporting the vaping industry to help smokers switch to a less harmful alternative.
We all need to take these opportunities if we are to achieve the shared aim of harm reduction and a smokefree world.”