PHE E-Cigarette Report

Public Health England (PHE) has published independent evidence that shows electronic cigarettes are much less damaging to your health than cigarettes.

The current estimate is that electronic cigarettes are around 95% less harmful than smoking but almost half the population (44.8%) don’t realise electronic cigarettes are much less harmful than smoking.

The evidence shows that out of the 2.6 million adults using electronic cigarettes in the UK, almost all of them are current or ex-smokers, most of which are using them to either help quit or to stop reverting back to cigarettes.
It also provides no evidence that electronic cigarettes are a route into smoking for children or non-smokers with less than 1% of adults and young people who have never smoked becoming regular electronic cigarette users.

Professor Ann McNeill, King’s College London and independent author of the review, said:

“There is no evidence that e-cigarettes are undermining England’s falling smoking rates. Instead the evidence consistently finds that e-cigarettes are another tool for stopping smoking and in my view smokers should try vaping and vapers should stop smoking entirely.”

Professor Peter Hajek, Queen Mary University London and independent author of the review said:

“My reading of the evidence is that smokers who switch to vaping remove almost all the risks smoking poses to their health. Smokers differ in their needs and I would advise them not to give up on e-cigarettes if they do not like the first one they try. It may take some experimentation with different products and e-liquids to find the right one.”

Professor Linda Bauld, Cancer Research UK’s expert in cancer prevention, said “Cancer Research UK is funding more research to deal with the unanswered questions around these products including the longer-term impact.”