Vaping: New Research from the United Kingdom

Unlike the governors of the United States, who continue their fear campaign around vaping, the British remain convinced of its benefits. And while they had already announced that vaping has 95% less harmful effects than tobacco, the United Kingdom is launching a study that could bring new elements in favour of e-cigarettes. What consolidates the vaping market expansion across the Channel and reassures a little more about its benefits.

The effectiveness of e-cigarettes, the subject of a new innovative study

Indeed, a new study will be launched by the recognized psychiatric hospital The Ladywell Unit in Lewisham on the effectiveness of smoking cessation by electronic cigarettes for individuals received in psychiatry. Therefore, 740 patients interned as part of treatment for mental illnesses will be offered an electronic cigarette and e liquids for two years.

The objective of this study is to measure the effectiveness of smoking cessation through electronic cigarettes on patients with behavioural disorders. Since these people are more likely to smoke and more challenging to wean than the rest of the population, the effectiveness of e-cigarettes will be severely tested.

Indeed, individuals with depression, for example, are twice as likely to smoke as the rest of the population, while they are three times more likely to smoke if they have schizophrenia.

In addition, if tolerated by the medical profession during the patient’spatient’s internment, tobacco will be replaced by electronic cigarettes for the duration of the study. The researchers want to compare the capacity of the e-cigarette to bring satisfaction to their “patient-smokers”, whose need is more frequent and more challenging to satisfy.

The British will therefore be able to study, in addition to the efficiency of the electronic cigarette, the evolution of the mental disorders of its patients and their overall well-being.

So far, no dangerous poisoning from “vaping”

The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BFR) is a scientifically independent institution within the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) portfolio. It advises the federal government and the states on food, chemical, and product safety questions. The BfR conducts its research on topics closely related to its assessment tasks.

In the period from May 2018 to February 2019, a total of 167 cases of poisoning and cases with suspected poisoning were recorded more precisely in the PiMont study: After inhaling the vapor, the patients had no or only mild symptoms in over 90% of the cases.

The case collection on e-cigarettes is one of eight sub-projects in the PiMont investigation of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety. In addition to the BfR, the Society for Clinical Toxicology and all eight German poison information centers are involved in the PiMont study. Data were collected prospectively from January 2015 to November 2017, with more comprehensive case reports for May 2018 to February 2019.

Even after the case collection has been completed, the BfR remains in close contact with the poison information centers to include new case reports in the assessment, if necessary.