NEWS
The newly-emerging vaping culture
should be seen as an ideal opportunity
to encourage people to switch from
smoking to a far safer way of obtaining
nicotine, according to a UK
university professor.
Marcus Munafo, Professor of Biological
Psychology at the University of Bristol,
said the popularity of e-cigarettes is
something which we can take advantage
of to dramatically improve public health.
He said: “Tobacco still kills six million
people around the world every year.
Despite huge public health efforts to
help people quit and prevent young
people starting, smoking remains the
single greatest cause of ill health and
premature death.”
He said e-cigarettes were growing in
popularity, developing their own vapingbased culture and delivered nicotine
“almost as effectively as a conventional
cigarette, but without the vast majority of
other chemicals present in
tobacco smoke.”
In a blog post for the online academic
magazine The Conversation, Professor
Munafo wrote: “The rapid growth in
use of e-cigarettes, especially among
smokers trying to cut down or quit, has
taken the public health community and
the tobacco industry by surprise. Both
are struggling to catch up.
“Many devices offer a range of power
settings, and a vast array of e-liquids is
on offer, with varying nicotine contents
and flavours. Enthusiasts often apply
modifications to their devices, and
34 ISSUE 06 VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE
“And yes, young people are
experimenting with e-cigarettes
(in the same way that they
have always experimented
with pretty much everything),
although at the moment there
is no strong evidence this
is leading to subsequent
cigarette use, or even longterm e-cigarette use.”
engage in “cloud chasing” – competing to
produce the largest and most interesting
clouds of vapour.
“And yes, young people are
experimenting with e-cigarettes (in
the same way that they have always
experimented with pretty much
everything), although at the moment
there is no strong evidence this is
leading to subsequent cigarette use, or
even long-term e-cigarette use.”
He said there was “some consensus”
in the UK that smokers should be
encouraged to use vaping as a means of
giving up smoking.
Professor Munafo said: “Part of the
reason many vapers feel so passionately
about the subject (and react strongly
when they feel that vaping is being
unfairly attacked) is that for the first
time, through the use of e-cigarettes,
they have felt able to take control of
their nicotine habit, stop smoking, and
reassert some control over their health,
without being medicalised in
the process.”
He said the lack of information on the
possible harm of e-cigarettes was a
problem which was unlikely to change
any time soon as it could take several
decades to begin to see any longterm effects of vaping.Despite this the
professor concluded: “Nothing is entirely
risk-free, but the vastly reduced number
of chemicals present in e-cigarette
vapour compared to tobacco smoke
means we can be confident that vaping
will be much, much less harmful
than smoking.
“Nicotine is addictive, but much less so
on its own than in tobacco, where other
chemicals enhance its effect. At the
doses consumed by vapers the harm is
likely to be very low (although we need
to continue to research this), and many
vapers actually gradually move to zero
nicotine content e-liquids, even while
continuing to vape.
“We must be careful not to restrict
smokers’ access to e-cigarettes, or
over-state the potential harm of their
use, if this will put people off making the
transition from smoking to vaping. To do
so would deny us one of the greatest
public health improving opportunities of
the last 50 years.”
*Professor Munafo’s research focuses
on understanding pathways into, and the
consequences of, health behaviours and
mental health, with a particular focus on
tobacco and alcohol use.