Leading Australian general practitioners and anti-smoking researchers have again stressed that switching from smoking to e-cigarettes is the most effective way to quit smoking, given the relative safety of e-cigarettes.

Dr Colin Mendelsohn has even written a book on the topic, Stop Smoking: The Health Truth about e-cigarettes, and he has also discussed the issue at the Cancer Council in Australia. In its 2021 report, the Royal College of Physicians concluded that "e-cigarettes are an effective treatment for tobacco dependence and their use should be included and encouraged in all treatment pathways." This is something that all cancer councils of Australia should be thinking about."

"In the last 15 years, 100 million people worldwide have died from smoking, and e-cigarettes are everywhere. "Switching from smoking to vaping can dramatically reduce the risk of cancer. It is estimated that the cancer risk of e-cigarette nicotine is more than 200 times lower than the cancer risk of smoking cigarettes." Mendelson added.

Alessia Brooks, from the Cancer Council of New South Wales, recently said the council does not recommend using e-cigarettes to quit smoking because the evidence is inconclusive. Mendelson says that's not the case. "But that's not true," Mendelson said. "There is growing evidence that e-cigarettes can help many smokers quit. The internationally recognised highest standard Cochrane review of evidence-based research in healthcare was published in September 2021 and showed e-cigarettes were 53% more effective than nicotine replacement therapy as a smoking cessation treatment."

He added that cancer organisations in Australia needed to reassess their position, as health organisations in the UK and New Zealand had done. "So I think it's time for Cancer Council Australia to reassess their thinking, as Cancer Research UK and the Cancer Society New Zealand have done."