UK: NICE To Back Use Of E-cigarettes In New Smoking Cessation Guidance

Source from:  Pulse 10/12/2017

NICE is planning to back use of e-cigarettes in an update of guidelines on smoking cessation, according to new draft guidance.

In the guidance, published last month, NICE said: ‘Some smokers have found them helpful to quit smoking cigarettes and there is currently little evidence on the long-term benefits or harms of 15 these products.’

Public Health England and the Royal College of Physicians have already stated that e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful to health than tobacco, the guidance says.

The new guidance on smoking cessation is expected to be published early next year and will replace NICE guidance on smoking cessation last published in 2008.

NICE said that smokers often ask healthcare practitioners about using e-cigarettes to help them stop smoking and that its committee had agreed that advice should be provided to allow an informed discussion of e-cigarettes as an aid to smoking cessation.

The new draft guidance comes just months after a study found that teenagers were more likely to start smoking after using e-cigarettes. 

Further support for e-cigs

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) has welcomed a report by the British Psychological Society (BPS) that yesterday urged wider promotion of electronic cigarettes as a method of stopping smoking.

“We welcome this report setting out the role e-cigarettes can play in reducing the harm from smoking,” said Hazel Cheeseman, ASH’s director of policy, in a statement posted on the organization’s website.

“Many smokers have found e-cigarettes helpful in quitting but confusion persists among some about the relative safety of vaping compared to smoking. 2.9 million adults in England currently use electronic cigarettes, over half have already quit smoking and many of the rest are actively seeking to do so.

“Evidence shows that the most effective way to quit smoking is through a combination of professional face-to-face-support and stop-smoking aids.

“What health professionals tell smokers about e-cigarettes is important to ensure that smokers have an accurate view of what switching to vaping might mean.

“It is hoped that if smokers are better informed this will help more to successfully quit tobacco for good.” Enditem