There was a suggestion last week by the Public Health England that the NHS should provide free electronic cigarettes to smokers to help them quit the smoking habit. However, not everyone was convinced when the highly respected health officials stated that vaping is 95 percent safer than smoking. According to the report published in The Lancet, some health experts claimed that Public Health England`s study was partially funded by electronic cigarette industry: therefore, it cannot be trusted.
The Public Heath England's study was mainly based on a report written by an ex- chief drug advisor in the UK government, Dr. David Nutt, and his colleagues in 2004. After testing various nicotine products, they found that tobacco cigarettes were actually the most hazardous at 99 percent, while electronic cigarettes only had four percent of the relative harm.
The Lancent revealed that the Public Health England study was biased because several officials had traceable ties to smoking cessation or electronic cigarettes group. In the original paper, the author indeed mentioned their affiliations as a potential conflict of interest, but the Health Public England left this information out in their report.
Even in the face of these critics, the Public Health England claims that it protects and improves the health and well being of the nation. They also hope to continue providing more scientific study to back their stance: vaping could save millions of lives annually, which is very true.
Now, it seems that the electronic cigarette industry moves a step forward and two steps backwards as always. Any time positive vaping news is released; anti-vaping advocates are fast to find a loophole. They call for more detailed study, more research and a more careful report, yet when the result is released it is still not enough.
Ironically, if the tobacco companies were making a similar claim as the Public Health England, you can be sure that the antismoking advocates around the UK would vigorously attack the tobacco cigarette industry. However, if it is The Lancent lying, apparently it is acceptable as long as their ideology is communicated. Do you think this new information hurt the credibility of the earlier evidence on electronic cigarettes?