Center for Tobacco Products News

Glasgow Magazine

E-cigarettes. They are the new kid on the block.

Billboards are running promotions and TV adverts are featuring them. And a quick internet search will show that this is no niche market – there are many companies selling this battery-operated product.

But what do we really know about electronic cigarettes?

The answer, according to the British Medical Association, is not enough. It has warned that e-cigarettes should not be considered as a lower risk option to smoking or as a way to quit the habit until regulations are tightened.

At their annual meeting, BMA members agreed that there are not enough peer-reviewed studies to support the use of e-cigarettes as a safe and effective nicotine-replacement therapy.

The issue first came to light in February 2010 when the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) had a consultation around the regulation of nicotine containing products.

E-cigarette firms in the UK are currently regulated by Trading Standards, but because they contain nicotine there is debate around whether it should be treated as a medicine and approved by the MHRA.

The MHRA recognised the need for further research into this regulation and a final decision is due to be reported in Spring 2013.

Until then health professionals are being urged by the BMA to continue using regulated and licensed products to help patients stop smoking.

At the moment, therapies supplied by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s Smokefree Services (NHS GGC) include nicotine replacement therapy, Zyban and Champax.

Fiona Dunlop, NHS GGC’s health improvement lead on tobacco, said: “E-cigarettes are a new product that some people are finding useful in their quit attempts.

“There are so many products being manufactured that have different quantities of nicotine, and they aren’t regulated in any co-ordinated way at the moment.

“It is a new product and we are not writing it off but we do need to look at what the MHRA report and take their advice on effectiveness into account because anything we endorse for our smokefree service has to be evidence-based.

“And at the moment, there isn’t the evidence behind e-cigarettes for us to be able to support it.”

The stop smoking expert is also wary of the similarities this product has with cigarettes.

She said: “Our other concern around e-cigarettes is that they mimic the action of smoking and for some people, this could reinforce the smoking habit.

“If we are trying to have smoke-free areas in our hospitals, health centres and workplaces then it becomes difficult to tell the difference between someone smoking an e-cigarette and a cigarette.

“I think there is a need for education because at the moment, I don’t think people know much about e-cigarettes and whether they are effective.

“It is hard enough to stop smoking so we want to make sure that we have the best aids for people as part of our service, and continue to revise this as and when new evidence comes out.”

Also responding to the BMA statement, Adrian Everett, group CEO for E-Lites said: “E-Lites do not promote smoking electronic cigarettes as a way of quitting smoking but we do believe that they provide a harm reducing alternative.

“We have no interest in attracting people who do not smoke, nor do we want to deter smokers from trying to quit completely.

“We promote E-Lites as an alternative to smoking. There are over ten million smokers in the UK and we want to raise awareness of the fact that there is a healthier, cheaper and more socially acceptable option for smokers who don’t want to quit or have tried but failed to do so.

“Unlike traditional cigarettes, E-Lites e-cigarettes deliver nicotine without tobacco, tar or carbon monoxide present in cigarettes and therefore are a lower risk option.”

NHS research has shown that smokers are four times as likely to quit smoking if they join a help groups rather than trying on their own.

Groups are run in various local venues across Glasgow over seven weeks. On the first two weeks, people are given information about quitting and then everyone quits together at week three.

At these groups, the options of Nicotine Replacement Therapy, Zyban and Champix are discussed and provided by a local pharmacy or GP.

Janice Howard from Easterhouse has been tried to kick her smoking habit a number of times. The 30-a-day smoker bought an electronic cigarette to as part of this attempt but the aid only tempted her to light up both.

The 45-year-old said: “Whenever I see an e-cigarette, it makes me want to have a real cigarette because it looks like a real cigarette.”

She has recently joined a stop smoking group and hopes to stub out smoking once and for all and improve her health.

“I am asthmatic and I have been on a nebuliser three times in the last couple of months so it is about time to stop,” she said.

“Another reason is that my sister took a stroke on Hogmanay and she is only 43. This frightened me. She is putting the stroke down to smoking and is trying to give up now too so it is good that we can support each other.”