Dr Lynne Dawkins, Associate Professor at London South Bank University has wrote a report ‘Changing behaviour: Electronic cigarettes‘ published this week, which calls for stop smoking services to include e-cigarettes and provides mounting evidence that e-cigarettes will not only help the user quit smoking far more likely than other smoke cessation methods, but also stating that e-cigarettes are far more healthy than smoking.
“For smokers trying to quit, e-cigarettes are more attractive than traditional smoking cessation methods, such as nicotine replacement therapy, and at least as effective.”
Dr Lynne Dawkins, Associate Professor, London South Bank University
“For smokers trying to quit, e-cigarettes are more attractive than traditional smoking cessation methods, such as nicotine replacement therapy, and at least as effective.”
E-cigarettes not only help nicotine addiction, but also help simulate smoking with a hand to mouth operation
Dawkins findings are not a one-off. Plenty of studies and statistic research have already shown that e-cigarette devices are smokers’ preferred smoking cessation tools, and what’s more they are the most effective stop smoking method the world has ever seen. This is not only down to the similar feel of vapour and smoke, but also the hand to mouth motion we need to vape, closely resembles the action of smoking, making the switch from smoking to vaping a lot easier.
“There is also mounting evidence that they are much safer than tobacco smoking. As a consumer product, although most Stop Smoking Services are not currently able to supply these, we recommend that they endorse them and support their use by smokers trying to quit.”
Dr Lynne Dawkins, Associate Professor, London South Bank University
Dr. Dawkins and co-author Dr. Hayden Mc.Robbie conclude the report by offering the following suggestions :
– Improve education about the relative harms of smoking, nicotine and e-cigarettes.
– Combine existing best practice, NHS Stop Smoking Services (SSS) with the most popular quitting method (e-cigarettes) to increase attractiveness of the SSS and further boost success rate.
– Offer e-cigarettes and technical support as part of the SSS and fund the services to support smokers to quit.
– Use policy interventions and fiscal measures to raise the cost of smoking and reduce the cost of e-cigarettes.
– Continue to increase taxes, smoke-free regulation and purchasing barriers for cigarettes but regulate the reduced risk product less heavily. For e-cigarettes, avoid taxation and ‘vape-free’ legislation and promote unrestricted advertising of factual information.
– Regulate to promote product development — allow e-cigarettes to further evolve and improve so they are safer, more appealing and satisfying for more smokers.
– Invest in research to continue to explore the effects of e-cigarettes on smoking cessation and to determine which factors promote a successful transition.
In an interview on The Psychologist, Dr. Dawkins again stated that smokers crave both nicotine and the physical action of smoking which most people will agree is one of the main reasons ecigs help smokers get off the ciggies. A combination of feeling smoke/vapour as you use the device, the hand to mouth action, nicotine and also the many flavours available today, all go together to make e-cigarettes a quit smoking force that works, but still a lot of anti-smoking groups are still not totally publicly backing e-cigs. Now the Stoptober campaign, the UK Government and the NHS are backing e-cigarettes, it’s about time all other stop smoking services back them too.