UK experts say e-cigarettes could be of great benefit to public health.

Despite paranoid fears that something resembling smoking will have the same effects as actually smoking, British authorities have come up with an abnormally reasoned view.

The scientists say the vapour in electronic cigarettes (technically an aerosol) removes carcinogens, carbon monoxide and thousands of toxins compared to smoking, and thus could save thousands of lives.

They say the e-cigarettes are about ninety five per cent less harmful than smoking tobacco, should be considered as a viable alternative, and be supported by the government.

Royal College of Physicians (RCP) Professor John Britton argues that e-cigarettes “offer the potential to radically reduce harm from smoking in our society. This is an opportunity that should be managed, and taken.”

Smoking is still the largest avoidable cause of premature death, disability and social inequalities in health in the UK.

Electronic cigarettes contain nicotine, but the experts point out that even at the doses absorbed from cigarettes, nicotine causes little if any harm.

It is the carcinogens, carbon monoxide and thousands of other toxins in tobacco smoke that kill. This means that health harms from smoking can be avoided by substituting cigarettes with a less toxic source of nicotine.

There have been many concerns raised about the use of e-cigarettes, including attracting young people to become smokers, re-establishing the act of inhaling nicotine as something that is acceptable in public, and diverting smokers who want to quit away from evidence-based smoking cessation treatment services.

But the new RCP report argues that, whilst not absolutely safe, the hazard to health arising from long term vapour inhalation from the e-cigarettes available today is unlikely to exceed 5 per cent of the harm from smoking tobacco.

The report finds that among adults in the UK, e-cigarette use is almost entirely limited to those who are or have been smokers, in most cases as a means to cut down or quit smoking.

It also finds no grounds to suspect that use of e-cigarettes renormalises smoking, or that use where smoking is prohibited represents a significant hazard to health.

The report recognises that tobacco industry acquisition of many formerly independent e-cigarette producers and importers is a cause for concern, but says that advertising restrictions due to be implemented in May 2016 “go some way towards alleviating these concerns.”

The evidence summarised in the RCP report shows that e-cigarettes have so far been beneficial to UK public health, both at individual and population level, by providing smokers with a viable alternative to tobacco smoking, write the authors.

“E-cigarettes represent an important means to reduce the harm to individuals and society from tobacco use, they conclude.

“They should continue to be supported by government and promoted as a tobacco harm reduction strategy.”

The full study is available here.