BBC_Science_Focus_-_08.2019

to be an American one, the New England

Journal Of Medicine, showed that in

a randomised trial in the UK, people

in smoking cessation services who are

allocated to e-cigarettes in addition to

conventional nicotine replacement therapy

are about twice as likely to quit. And they

are effective quitting agents, so we should

be promoting them.

I T A L S O H E L P S T H AT E - C I G A R E T T E S
GIVES A SIMILAR SENSATION TO
TRADITIONAL TOBACCO PRODUCTS...
Most smokers want to quit smoking. All
smokers know that it’s harmful but they
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is an effective substitute to smoking.
You need decent amounts of nicotine
to be delivered, which most nicotine
replacement therapies alone don’t do,
and you also need to have the essential
behaviour stimulation, like sharing
cigarettes with friends. You can go out
with other people and smoke and vape

and you’re not ostracised. You don’t go

out with a group of smokers and stick a

nicotine patch on your arm and say ‘hey,

that seems cool, we’re sharing nicotine

together’. It looks stupid.

USING E-CIGARETTES ISN’T WITHOUT

RISK THOUGH, IS IT? WHAT DOES THE

CURRENT RESEARCH SAY?

They aren’t new. They’ve been around for

15 years; they’ve been in widespread use

in the UK for about seven years. There’s

been no appreciable reported adverse

effects, with use by millions of people.

So, if that was a drug, you’d be pretty

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short-term effects.

Long-term, because you’re inhaling a

hot vapour which has got foreign materials

in it into your lungs, it is likely that there

will be some lung damage from it. But,

if you look at the levels of these things,

you will see that the levels are a fraction

of those of tobacco smoke. So on the one

hand, it’s completely barmy, for you or I as

non-smoking, non-nicotine users, to start

using e-cigarettes. But if you’re a smoker,

it’s a no-brainer. You should switch.

BUT THEY CONTAIN NICOTINE, SO ISN’T

THAT GOING TO CAUSE DAMAGE TO

YOUR CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM, ETC?

No, it isn’t. If you look at the general

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on the body, it’s on a par with caffeine. So,

you have maybe 80 per cent of the British

population being addicted to caffeine.

I’ve had discussions with people telling

me how electronic cigarettes are harmful

because they contain nicotine, while

drinking coffee.

PROF JOHN BRITTON

John is director of the UK Centre for Tobacco &

Alcohol Studies at the University of Noingham..

Interviewed by BBC Science Focus commissioning

editor Jason Goodyer.