BBC_Science_Focus_-_08.2019

DISCOVERIES

WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF SAN
FRANCISCO’S RECENT DECISION TO BAN
THE SALES OF E-CIGARETTES?
It’s not something that’s happening
anywhere else in the world. I think
the USA generally and San Francisco
particularly is getting into something of
a moral panic. What they have had, over
the last year, is a big increase in the use of
a particular product which delivers very
high amounts of nicotine. It looks like a
USB stick and you charge it like a USB
stick. So, quite a novelty product.
And that hasn’t been a problem until
last year’s data came out, because smoking
prevalence rates have been falling in
children in America just as they have in
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uptake with a big increase in vaping,
and so that has been interpreted as a sign
that vaping is producing a whole new

generation of nicotine addicts. And on that

basis they’ve banned it.

WILL THIS PROVE EFFECTIVE?

I think it’s a gross overreaction, but the

USA does have a problem in that it has

never endorsed the use of electronic

cigarettes as a way of quitting smoking in

the way that we have in the UK, and it has

never prohibited advertising [e-cigarettes]

to children, and the brand in question has

been advertised strongly on social media

to young people.

So, in effect, you get what you ask

for and that’s what’s happened. But the

solution of banning the sale of e-cigarettes

strikes me as being utterly unenforceable,

as you just go out of the city to buy them,

so how do you then achieve anything? The

problem is advertising nicotine products

to children and selling them to children,

not the fact that these products are

harmful to society as a whole.

PEOPLE MENTION THAT THE FLAVOURS

OF E-CIGARETTES, LIKE MANGO OR

CHERRY, FOR EXAMPLE, MAKE THEM

MORE APPEALING TO CHILDREN

There may be some truth in that, but it’s

also true that most smokers – and I’ve

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sensation of inhaling nicotine vapour quite

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makes all the difference for many vapers

between being able to use the product. So,

again, it’s important not to throw the baby

out with the bathwater. You can ban

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stop hundreds and thousands of smokers

from successfully transitioning to

something that’s going to prolong their life.

IN THE UK, THE NHS ACTUALLY

RECOMMENDS SWITCHING TO

E-CIGARETTES IF YOU WANT TO STOP

OR CUT DOWN ON SMOKING TOBACCO

Yes, the most effective way to quit

smoking is to use nicotine replacement

therapy, and electronic cigarettes. There

was a trial published in the world’s

leading medical journal, which happens

San Francisco recently

became the first US city to ban

sales of e-cigarees, citing

the fact that the long-term

health eects of vaping are

still unknown and that there

seems to be an upswing in

young vapers. However, some

people believe this decision

may turn former smokers

who now vape back onto

traditional tobacco products.

THE TRUTH

ABOUT

E-CIGARETTES

Prof John Britton epidemiologist

“You can ban

flavours, and

protect children,

but then you

stop hundreds

and thousands

of smokers from

transitioning to

something that’s

going to prolong

their life”

Horizons

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