Many experts have debated whether e-cigs are safer than smoking tobacco but until now there have not been a lot of studies or scientific evidence to show which side of the debate is right. A new study could change things though. In the recent report experts in this area have claimed that e-cigs significantly lower the risk of death and illness associated with smoking tobacco, a leading killer in Britain. According to University of Nottingham professor John Britton and university colleagues it is not nicotine which is harmful by itself. Instead the various carcinogenic compounds, toxins that number in the thousands, and the carbon monoxide that is inhaled when smoking tobacco that cause death and serious illness in people. The report findings can be found in The BMJ journal.
As part of the University of Nottingham report authors reviewed a recent Royal College of Physicians report that outlined the role that e-cigs can have in reducing tobacco harm. The professor and his colleagues determined that non tobacco nicotine products, especially e-cigs, could “offer the potential to radically reduce harm from smoking in our society. This is an opportunity that should be managed, and taken.” Since there are around nine million people in the UK alone who are smoking tobacco any reduction in harm could be quite significant. The conclusion that the report authored by the professor reached was that “E-cigarettes represent an important means to reduce the harm to individuals and society from tobacco use. They should continue to be supported by government and promoted as a tobacco harm reduction strategy.”
