Peter Hajek Gets It
Professor Peter Hajek, a man behind so many excellent studies that have helped us to understand the efficacy and relative risk of vaping better, has responded to the British Medical Association’s report
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by Dave Cross
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Planet of the Vapes covered the report published by the British Medical Association (BMA) on Friday. In it, the BMA offers recommendations for stronger vaping regulation and makes some ridiculous statements. Professor Peter Hajek, a man behind so many excellent studies that have helped us to understand the efficacy and relative risk of vaping better, has responded to the professional association for doctors’ demands.
Peter Hajek’s biography for the 2023 E-Cigarette Summit tells how he is Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of the Health and Lifestyle Research Unit at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London. His research is concerned primarily with understanding health behaviours and developing and evaluating both behavioural and pharmacological treatments for dependent smokers and for people with weight problems. Professor Hajek is a member of a number of expert groups, advisory bodies and editorial boards, and has authored or co-authored over 400 publications.
One panel discussion at the 2023 E-Cigarette Summit had Professor Hajek discussing why England is at odds with so many countries around the world when it comes to evidence about vaping.
Professor Hajek’s expertise in this area makes him very qualified to pass comment on the BMA’s statements and, from a UK perspective, the professional association for doctors appears to be preferring to take an American/Bloomberg view of vaping rather than adopting approaches advocated by the Professor and his peers.
“Despite the report’s claim (supported by a reference to a blog!), vaping is less addictive than smoking. Only a small proportion of never-smokers progress to vaping daily” - Professor Peter Hajek
Commenting on the British Medical Association’s report, Professor Peter Hajek said: “Some of the regulations that this report proposes are sensible, but the call to ban vape flavours other than tobacco is misguided. The target that doctors should worry about most of all is smoking, and smokers of all ages prefer vapes with non-tobacco flavours.
“The headline concern, proffered to justify this demand, is that 8% of 11–17-year-olds tried vaping. But it is important to add that smoking in young people is at all time low, and that the figure includes would-be smokers who would otherwise be using the incomparably more risky alternative. Despite the report’s claim (supported by a reference to a blog!), vaping is less addictive than smoking. Only a small proportion of never-smokers progress to vaping daily.
“Regulations that prevent the uptake of vaping by youth are needed. However, regulators need to make sure that concerns about very hypothetical future risks of youth vaping do not trump concerns about the very real and present risks of adult smoking.”
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.
