NCSCT embrace e-cigarettes

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National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT) in the UK are now officially recommending e-cigarettes as an aid to quit smoking. I'm really not sure when their new guidelines were released, but I started coming across this link yesterday: http://goo.gl/wuxNtb. As someone, somewhere (I can't find it right now, might have been tweeted), said yesterday: I almost fell of my chair when I read this. And as others have stated today: This is a huge leap in the right direction. Finally some common sense, and I'm really happy to see that NCSCT is living up to what they say they are: "committed to support the delivery of effective evidence-based tobacco control programmes and smoking cessation interventions provided by local stop smoking services". You probably noticed that I emphasized evidence-based. Some of the statements from the guidelines shows that they are serious about this as well: There are currently no robust data to support the concern that the existence of electronic cigarettes might ‘normalise’ smoking and increase use of conventional cigarettes Short-term exposure to electronic cigarettes appears to be associated with few serious risks. Mouth and throat irritation are the most commonly reported symptoms and these appear to subside over time. There are no high quality safety data regarding long-term electronic cigarette use but there is no a-priori reason to expect that such use may pose risks anywhere near the risks associated with smoking. That's the way to do it. Not only do they base their guidelines on evidence, but as you can see in the last one I pasted above, they are using common sense as well. Let's hope this can be an eyeopener for some politicians and policymakers. Good work NCSCT!

National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT) in the UK are now officially recommending e-cigarettes as an aid to quit smoking. I'm really not sure when their new guidelines were released, but I started coming across this link yesterday: http://goo.gl/wuxNtb. As someone, somewhere (I can't find it right now, might have been tweeted), said yesterday: I almost fell of my chair when I read this. And as others have stated today: This is a huge leap in the right direction. Finally some common sense, and I'm really happy to see that NCSCT is living up to what they say they are: "committed to support the delivery of effective evidence-based tobacco control programmes and smoking cessation interventions provided by local stop smoking services". You probably noticed that I emphasized evidence-based. Some of the statements from the guidelines shows that they are serious about this as well:

There are currently no robust data to support the concern that the existence of electronic cigarettes might ‘normalise’ smoking and increase use of conventional cigarettes

Short-term exposure to electronic cigarettes appears to be associated with few serious risks. Mouth and throat irritation are the most commonly reported symptoms and these appear to subside over time. There are no high quality safety data regarding long-term electronic cigarette use but there is no a-priori reason to expect that such use may pose risks anywhere near the risks associated with smoking.

That's the way to do it. Not only do they base their guidelines on evidence, but as you can see in the last one I pasted above, they are using common sense as well. Let's hope this can be an eyeopener for some politicians and policymakers. Good work NCSCT!