The Scottish branch of the UK National Health Service has for the first time included electronic cigarettes in its official guidance programme for smokers looking to quit. According to Fiona Moore, public health adviser at NHS Scotland, the increased interest and growing number of questions about e-cigarettes have prompted them to revise their guidance. ??The revised NHS guidance points out there is still little evidence on the effect of e-cigarettes, but states that “current expert opinion on the limited evidence available suggests that they are likely to be considerably less hazardous than tobacco smoking”.? E-cigsThe measure follows publication of a letter last week, signed by 53 physicians and professors from around the world and addressed to the WHO, which states that "tobacco harm reduction products" such as e-cigarettes, could "play a significant role in meeting the 2025 UN non-communicable disease objectives by driving down smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption." The Irish government is still to take a definitive position on e-cigarettes, however as Minister James Reilly noted recently, "If we allow e-cigarettes to facilitate people to continue with a habit that resembles smoking, we will undermine the public health policy of denormalising smoking, particularly where children are present." © 2014 - Checkout Magazine by Stephen Wynne-Jones
