Britain has been at the forefront of the vaping boom. Promoting it as the primary harm reducing alternative to smoking while advocating for its adoption in order to improve health of long-time smokers. Well, Britain has stepped out in front of the crowd yet again as the country is now considering allowing the use of e-cigarettes on public transport.
The legislation is part of a growing movement in the UK to normalize e-cig use and try to get people to kick traditional cigarettes for good.
The suggestion originated from a parliamentary committee, which investigated vaping as a way to help people stop smoking. Their rationale was that, if e-cig users weren’t permitted to use their devices in public, including on public transportation, it could lead them to stop using vape devices altogether and return to traditional smoking.
Committee chairman Norman Lamb has said, now that more research has been carried out into the health risks of using e-cigs, it is no longer possible to assume e-cigs are as deadly as combustible cigarettes (claiming approx. 100,000 lives per year in the UK alone).
“Smoking remains a national health crisis and the government should be considering innovative ways of reducing the smoking rate,” he said. “E-cigarettes are less harmful than conventional cigarettes, but current policy and regulations do not sufficiently reflect this and businesses, transport providers and public places should stop viewing conventional and e-cigarettes as one and the same. There is no public health rationale for doing so.”
Fears that vaping might eventually lead to smoking, or labeling it as a “gateway” to tobacco use, “have not materialized,” Lamb said. Adding that e-cigs may in fact be a “key weapon” in the National Health Service’s arsenal in the battle against smoking.
“Medically licensed e-cigarettes would make it easier for doctors to discuss and recommend them as a stop-smoking tool to aid those quitting smoking. The approval systems for prescribing these products must be urgently reviewed.”
British politicians have issued a number of recommendations for the government and health authorities to review. Including a proposal that members of the vaping industry review “how approval systems for stop-smoking therapies could be streamlined, should e-cigarette manufacturers put forward a product for medical licensing.”
Also included in the recommendations were a public debate about the use of e-cigs and how they should be handled in public spaces, including transit.
