E-cigarettes could save lives, European conference told

Switching to e-cigarettes could save millions of smokers’ lives, a conference on the rapidly expanding use of the devices heard Tuesday, though some delegates warned more research on the health effects is needed. The merits of e-cigarettes were thrashed out at a one-day gathering of scientists, experts, policymakers and industry figures at the Royal Society in London. The use of electronic cigarettes – pen-sized battery-powered devices that simulate smoking by heating and vaporizing a liquid solution containing nicotine – has grown rapidly. Sales have doubled annually for the last four years and there are an estimated seven million users across Europe. Many delegates merrily “vaped” away throughout the conference sessions, including one man with a luxuriant moustache puffing away on an e-pipe. “Cigarettes are killing 5.4 million people per year in the world,” said Robert West, a health psychology professor and the director of tobacco studies at Cancer Research UK. He said switching to e-cigarettes could save millions of lives, but the debate was about “whether that goal can be realized and how best to do it”. The professor said almost a third of attempts to quit smoking involved e-cigarettes. Doctor Jacques Le Houezec, a consultant in public health and… Read full this story

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