Switching To Vaping Gains Years Of Life
New research published this week says that society benefits from smokers being able to switch to vaping.
-
by Dave Cross
Share on:
For Mendez, this report represents a step away from the position taken by the National Academies study (of which he was a part) – one that pointed to a teen progression from vaping to smoking.
Warner, on the other hand, has been involved in a number of studies pointing out the benefits of vaping. This doesn’t mean he has compromised himself – just a couple of months ago he was suggesting that data implies vaping is going to be a short-lived fad. An odd fad that lasts for ten years and counting…
It is the fact that the pair has a track record of being independent and offering up a critical eye that ought to lend their latest work credibility in the eyes of anti-THR (tobacco harm reduction) campaigners like Simon Chapman, Stanton Glantz and Martin McKee.
The study continues work that Warner has been doing in the past, and spoken about at the E-cigarette summit in December 2017. The pair position themselves in the middle as they note: “Enthusiasm about the potential of e-cigarettes and future generations of ANDS to greatly reduce the toll of combusted tobacco products has been met by an equally passionate wariness.”
The paper covers the differences in opinions between enthusiastic supporters of ecigs and those politely referred to as sceptics.
They highlight a legitimate worry: “The most concerning aspect of vaping has been its uptake by youth,” but go on to state, “most youth use of e-cigarettes is infrequent, with frequent use concentrated among current smokers.”
After numerous modelling simulations, they write: “In all our simulations, the positive contribution of smoking cessation outweighs the negative impact of smoking initiation. In the most conservative sensitivity analysis, life-years saved by additional vaping-induced smoking cessation exceed life-years lost by vaping-induced smoking initiation by three-quarters. In the base case simulation, utilizing what we consider the most plausible assumptions, life-year gains exceed losses by a factor of 13.7.”
The pair remain in the public health camp that believes people need to be warned about “the dangers of nicotine”, but open up a dilemma in that they want “two fundamental goals - discouraging youth use of e-cigarettes and encouraging their consideration as a means of reducing adult smoking.”
Ultimately, they climb down from the fence on the side of vaping to say: “this study suggests that we have to give a much higher priority than we have to date to helping adult smokers to quit”.
Photo Credit:
Images: Ken Warner presentation - http://www.e-cigarette-summit.us.com/files/2017/05/Ken-Warner.pdf
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.
Join the discussion
Harm Reduction For The Rich
The United Kingdom risks becoming a harm reduction country only for the wealthy, according to Michael Landl of the World Vapers’ Alliance
-
by Dave Cross
CAPHRA Highlights Tobacco Control Flaws
The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates highlights the flaws in tobacco control which has led to the rise of black market in Australia
-
by Dave Cross
A Missed Opportunity at COP10
The Smoke Free Sweden movement says that COP10 was a missed opportunity to save millions of lives
-
by Dave Cross
COP10: Promote Tobacco Harm Reduction
Experts with Smoke Free Sweden are emphasising the urgent need for a Tobacco Harm Reduction approach at COP10
-
by Dave Cross
