Vaping News Headlines: UK Heart Study Backs E-Cigs – Sainsbury’s Under Fire – UK Hospital To Allow Vaping – UK E-Cig Expert Blows Away the Myths – UK Health Minister Promotes Vaping
Bit of a good news on the UK vape scene special this week – are you watching America 😉
New UK Study Says E-Cigarettes Are A Sure Way To Quit Smoking
Early results from a Heart Research UK funded study shows smokers using e-cigs to quit have a far higher success rate and are unlikely to return to the cancer sticks.
The team from Sheffield Hallam University are monitoring smokers looking to quit over a 6 month period.
The scientists are particularly interested in ‘cardiovascular health, looking at the effect on small veins and arteries’ and say early results show participants in the ‘e-cigarette group’ are:
…most likely not to take up smoking again and complete their stop smoking attempt, within the study course.
This supports previous work and anecdotal evidence in the field – but to make sure this is definitely the case, we are also dividing participants in each group between those who are successful and those who are not. We are assessing the reasons why the latter group didn’t complete their attempt.
It is hoped that in time, these findings will help to inform new guidelines around the use of e-cigarettes to quit smoking. Importantly, this work will also allow smokers to be given more options and be better informed, so that they can stop smoking for good.
The researchers are still looking for volunteers and can be contacted on 0114 2254312 or email: heartresearchuk @ shu.ac.uk
UK Supermarket Under Fire For Selling Vape Products
The anti tobacco crowd has slammed UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s for stocking their shelves with vape products.
They say showing the items in clear view and next to the ‘health and beauty’section will encourage more children to take up vaping – yeah really…
However Sainsbury’s – who recently signed a deal to stock the controversial pod kit JUUL – remain unmoved.
A spokesman said:
Vaping products are for smokers looking for an alternative to cigarettes. A natural home for them is next to smoking cessation products.
Good for you Sainsbury’s 😉
UK Hospital Now Allows Vaping On Site
Whilst you still can’t vape inside you can within the grounds of Chesterfield Royal Hospital.
The hospital in Derbyshire made the decision after advice from Public Health England and the county’s own health department.
Nursing lead Sally Chadwick said:
We’ve approached this from a smoking cessation point of view. Whilst the Trust would not encourage vaping as such, given its success in helping people to stop smoking, we are happy to allow it on site for those patients who are using vaping to help them give up cigarettes.
The guidance we have had from Public Health England is that it presents a much lower health risk than smoking and is proving useful to help smokers give up cigarettes. So, as long as it is done outside and away from doors and windows, we will now permit their use on site.
Helping people to quit smoking is a major part of the national and local health agenda and there is a portion of the recently published NHS Long Term Plan that is devoted to prevention, of which smoking cessation will play a major part. We are playing our part in following national guidelines to implement this plan as part of the collective drive towards promoting healthier lifestyle choices.
This decision is to be welcomed and follows on from the advice given by the Royal College of Physicians that has also stated ALL NHS sites should be vape friendly.
Let’s hope more hospitals and NHS sites follow Chesterfield’s lead and soon.
UK E-Cig Expert Blows Away The Myths Around Vaping
Dr Lynne Dawkins is one of the UK’s leading experts on the effects of e-cigarettes and recently gave a fantastic lecture in which she dispelled some vaping myths.
She’s an associate professor at London’s South Bank University and has specialized in all things e-cig for over 6 years.
In her lecture she takes to task common mis-beliefs such as vaping leads to kids smoking – vapers are swapping one nicotine addiction to another and they’re not regulated.
Vape advocate Clive Bates has broken down her lecture into manageable chunks on his blog – however do watch the video above as it’s well worth it!
Given the current hysteria over in America over nicotine addiction it’s well worth taking this little gem from her speech:
“They contain nicotine so it’s just swapping one addiction for another”
True to an extent – but this may be more of a moral issue (or an individual preference) rather than a public health problem. Nicotine, whilst addictive, is not responsible for most of the detrimental effects on health which are caused by the smoke from burning tobacco.
Switching to a ‘cleaner’ form of nicotine administration such as vaping therefore substantially reduces risk of smoking-related illness although it may maintain nicotine addiction. The limited research available on the addictiveness of vaping compared with tobacco smoking suggest that vaping is less ‘addictive’ than smoking.
Like I said well worth a read/watch especially if your name is Gottlieb 😉
UK Health Minister Says NHS Should Promote E-Cigs
Answering a question from Jim Shannon MP Steve Brine the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care says all NHS stop smoking services should be promoting e-cigs to smokers looking to quit.
Mr Shannon’s question was:
…what steps his Department is taking to support local stop smoking services which encourage smokers to transition to vaping.
Brine couldn’t be any clearer in his reply:
Public Health England (PHE) recommends that all local stop smoking services in England should offer support to smokers who want to use an e-cigarette to stop smoking.
PHE commissions the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training to produce free online training for healthcare professionals, a briefing for services and a guide for services on working with e-cigarette retailers. These materials are available to view at the following link:
NCSCTThe PHE ‘E-cigarettes and heated tobacco products: evidence review’ can be viewed at the following link:
You can’t be any clearer than that and once again Are You Watching America?
and finally…no and finally!
As you can see from this week’s vaping news the UK really is leading the way in promoting vaping and e-cigs as a healthier way to quit smoking.
Compare that to my inbox which is bulging at the seams with anti-vape legislation currently sweeping across America.
I could have listed all the scare stories – fake news and new laws currently coming into being over the pond but I shall leave that to another day.
Instead the contrast between the US and the UK on all things vape is frightening.
Frightening for the millions of American smokers who may soon not have access to life saving e-cigarettes.
So as much as I tried to find a funny vape story I couldn’t find anything to laugh about this week…normal service resumed next week…hopefully 😉
