Electronic Cigarettes

(asked on )

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the use of electronic vaping devices on smoker mortality levels.


Answered by
Steve Brine Portrait
Steve Brine
This question was answered on 17th April 2018

The Department has been clear that for smokers, quitting smoking completely is the best way to improve health. E-cigarettes are not risk free. However evidence continues to suggest that e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful to health than cigarettes and can aid in helping smokers to quit.

Given that e-cigarettes are a relatively new product, there is no long term data available regarding the impact on mortality rates of smokers who opt to move to vaping as an alternative.

The Department will continue to work with Public Health England (PHE) to monitor the evidence base around e-cigarettes. In the Tobacco Control Plan, published in July 2017, PHE committed to update their evidence report on e-cigarettes and other novel nicotine delivery systems annually until the end of the Parliament in 2022.

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