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A professor at an American university has recommended that countries promote e-cigarettes as a harm reduction tool

A professor at an American university has recommended that countries promote e-cigarettes as a harm reduction tool

2023-03-31

March 31, 2015 - A new study by the Dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health and his team concludes that there is sufficient evidence to support the use of e-cigarettes as a primary smoking cessation aid for adults, and recommends that governments in the United States, Australia, and Canada, as well as medical professionals, give more consideration to the potential of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation and reduce misconceptions about them. In addition, Swiss universities using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests have found that nicotine e-cigarettes are less damaging to the lungs than cigarettes.


Currently, public controversy over nicotine e-cigarettes has centered on their risks to teenagers and their potential to help adults quit smoking. Professor Kenneth Warner, dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan in the United States, said the goal of promoting e-cigarettes as a harm reduction tool is not in conflict with the goal of reducing youth use of e-cigarettes. The key is effective government and media campaigns. Professor Warner also co-authored Nicotine e-cigarettes as a tool for smoking cessation with colleagues from King's College London, Harvard and other universities, in a paper published in the medical journal Nature.


"There is ample evidence that e-cigarettes can be used as a primary aid for adults to quit smoking, but very few members of the public and healthcare providers are aware of their potential harm reduction value," the paper said. Using a global perspective, Professor Warner's team analyzed countries that use e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation and smoke-free countries. They found high levels of support and promotion of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation option in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, while in the United States, Canada and Australia, while acknowledging the potential advantages of e-cigarettes, But can not be effectively recommended by the government and medical institutions.


They also cite the FDA's designation of some e-cigarette brands as "suitable for the protection of public health" as a marketing standard, saying that such action "indirectly implies that FDA believes e-cigarettes can help some people quit smoking who would not otherwise do so."


Another study by the Universities of Bern, Zurich and Basel in Switzerland found that nicotine e-cigarettes effectively increased lung perfusion and blood flow. The researchers monitored lung function in 44 healthy participants using magnetic resonance imaging. It was found that lung perfusion/blood flow was significantly reduced in tobacco users after smoking compared to normal, while lung perfusion/blood flow was enhanced in e-cigarette users after nicotine e-cigarettes. The researchers believe this means that nicotine e-cigarettes do not suppress lung function as traditional cigarette smoke does, and that nicotine e-cigarettes are less likely to cause lung damage.


Both studies, by Professor Warner and the Swiss University, endorse the potential of e-cigarettes as a harm reduction tool. As Professor Warner says in his paper, e-cigarettes are not a panacea to end the harm of tobacco, but they can contribute to this noble public health goal.


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