A leading Manchester chest physician and lung cancer specialist has broken ranks with the recent alarmist media narrative around vaping — warning that early, unverified claims about harm could stop smokers from switching to a much safer alternative.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Dr. Matt Evison, clinical lead for Greater Manchester’s Make Smoking History programme, pushed back against the way early findings from a local university vape study are being presented.
His message is clear: vaping is not as harmful as smoking, and telling people otherwise could be deadly.
The Study That Sparked It
In February, Manchester Metropolitan University researcher Dr. Maxime Boidin made headlines when he described preliminary results from a vaping study — the world’s first controlled long-term research of its kind — by saying vaping could be “just as harmful” as smoking.
The results haven’t been peer reviewed or published. But the headlines went viral.
And that’s exactly what Dr. Evison is worried about.
“From a Tobacco Control Perspective, Vaping Is a Positive Thing”
Dr. Evison didn’t mince words:
“From a tobacco control perspective, vaping is a positive thing. It is a treatment for tobacco dependency, and it’s an effective way of helping someone to become smoke-free and reduce their levels of harm and risk, and from that early death and illness that tobacco inevitably delivers.”
He went on to stress that the public health benefit is enormous — and that over three million people have quit smoking using a vape in the last five years:
“In the last five years about three million people have stopped smoking with a nicotine vape, knowing two out of three of those would have died because of their smoking, so that public health benefit is substantial.
“It Might Prevent Someone from Switching”
Dr. Evison made it clear that comparing vaping to smoking in the media — especially before data is peer-reviewed — is misleading and dangerous.
“If we send out the message to the public that vaping is as dangerous or worse as smoking, which is not true based on medical evidence, then that risks the public thinking that is true and it might prevent someone from switching from tobacco to vaping.”
And that switch, for a smoker, could literally be the difference between life and death.
A Sensible Split: Adult Smokers vs. Youth Vaping
While defending vaping as a powerful cessation tool for adults, Dr. Evison also acknowledged the separate issue of youth uptake — calling for balanced thinking and regulation.
“The concern, and what makes this path very difficult to navigate, is then an entirely separate issue which is about youth vaping…
That is about the risk of somebody who doesn’t smoke taking up vaping, so instead of going from substantial harm risk reduction to a fraction of that, you’re going from no harm to whatever that harm is to an individual of using vaping.”
His solution? Support the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to restrict access and marketing to children, while protecting adult access to a life-saving alternative.
Final Thoughts: Headlines Can Harm
Dr. Evison’s comments are a rare voice of clarity in a storm of vape panic headlines. He’s not defending the vape industry — he’s defending public health.
By separating the issue of adult smokers from youth prevention, and insisting that science, not sensation, should lead the way, he’s helping ensure that vaping stays on the table as the UK’s most effective quit tool.
Although personally, I don’t think the way the government are cracking down is helping matters. That’s already been covered here at Ecigclick and no doubt will be covered yet again.
I guess it’s clear to see the real harm is not in the vape — it’s in the headlines.
