British Medical Group Believes Smokers Should Switch to E-Cigarettes
British experts are taking a different route in terms of societal acceptance for e-cigarettes. While there is a growing skepticism and opposition in the U.S., these experts believe that if smokers are going to switch to e-cigarettes, there will be a significant reduction in death as well as disability caused by the country's most notorious killer – tobacco smoking.
Professor John Britton and his group studied the report submitted by the Royal College of Physicians on the examination of the role of e-cigarettes in the reduction of tobacco harm and came out with the conclusion that e-cigarettes and similar nicotine products that don't depend on tobacco actually "offer the potential to radically reduce harm from smoking in our society." The experts likewise stressed the importance of managing the use of the product.
They also contend that even though there exists a declining commonness of tobacco smoking in the country in the last few decades, the fact is there are still about nine million people who smoke, which in turn contributes to the number of people who die young or incur some kind of disability as a direct result of smoking.
Interestingly, Britton does not believe that nicotine is the major culprit, the bringer of harm. According to him, it is the by-products of smoking that lead to health issues, including carbon monoxide and carcinogens, not to mention the wide variety of toxins.
Compared to the nine million smokers in the U.K., the number of those who use e-cigarettes are less than half, which is estimated to be about 2.5 million. But the good thing about this number is that majority are self-confessed former smokers, which means they have been convinced that e-cigarettes are safer and healthier.
But then again, it's no secret that vapor inhalation of nicotine through e-cigarettes still have pose long term effects to the user. So in essence, choosing e-cigarette over tobacco is merely picking the lesser evil.