Hospitals not getting the Ecig Message
Despite strong evidence to support ecig use in harm reduction, hospitals are not supporting vapers.
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by Dave Cross
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After the PHE report, the NHS updated its position to say:
- “On current evidence they carry a fraction of the risk of smoked tobacco.”
- “E-cigarette use carries only around 5% of the risk of smoking.”
- “There is no evidence of direct harm from passive exposure to e-cigarette vapour.”
- “Evidence from a number of studies indicates that e-cigarettes can help people quit smoking, with similar or better results than nicotine replacement therapies such as patches or gum.”
- “Daily use of tank models that can be refilled with liquid may give smokers a better chance of quitting.”
- “E-cigarettes can help people to quit.”
- “Among under-18s, while experimentation with e-cigarettes is fairly common, regular use is rare and almost entirely confined to those who have already smoked.”
Greater Glasgow and Clyde led the way, following the words of expert David Shaw: “Permitting e-cigarette use on hospital grounds would provide much more positive role modelling for children than seeing pregnant women and patients with cancer smoking conventional cigarettes in sub-zero temperatures at the main entrance to hospitals.”
Not so for the chiefs at Chesterfield’s Royal Hospital. The “smoking ban on the entire hospital site is working ‘really well’ during the week,” writes The Derbyshire Times. “However, bosses have admitted they are having problems enforcing the policy at weekends.” As the video shows, they class vapers as being the same as smokers – something that hardly pushes a positive message to current tobacco users.
“It’s going really well during the week. However, weekends have proved more difficult and we’ve had complaints from patients and visitors. This is our next focus to make the Royal a more welcoming place on every day of the week,” the spokesperson is quoted as saying. “The message is simple – when you’re on site please don’t light-up a cigarette or use an e-cig.”
Australian expert Colin Mendelsohn agrees: “The best scientific evidence is that they are at least 95 per cent safer than smoking, and so compared to smoking it is a no-brainer. The risk to bystanders is minimal, if there is any risk at all.”
Worse news comes from the Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, where one of their medical team is advising parents to lie to children about vaping. On their website: “ ‘Parents should talk to their children about the dangers and harmful side effects of e-cigarettes and others drugs,’ says Dr. Dawkins. ‘Parents should also consider vaping just as dangerous as smoking cigarettes when talking to their teens about the dangers of tobacco use and smoking’.”
Advocate Michael Siegel says: “All vaping opponents can do if they want to scare people and to demonise vaping is to lie about it. I find it unfortunate that in the process, they are downplaying the hazards of smoking and undermining decades of public education and awareness. Most unfortunate, however, is the fact that they are risking losing the public's trust to accomplish their aims.”
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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