Spreading the word

Although during its 15-year existence the electronic cigarette has been successful in encouraging millions of smokers to switch to this much less harmful alternative, there is still a pressing need to disseminate further the message about the advantages of these products.
This is according to Dustin Dahlmann (pictured), founding member of the Independent European Vape Alliance (IEVA) and the author of a sponsored-content piece published yesterday by politico.eu.
Dahlmann said that, according to a study published in 2016 by the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center in Athens, Greece, more than six million tobacco smokers in the EU had succeeded in quitting their habit with the help of e-cigarettes, while another nine million smokers had been able to reduce their dependence on combustible cigarettes by using the electronic alternative.
A German study from 2017, meanwhile, had found that 99 percent of all e-cigarette users were current or former tobacco smokers.
The Graz-based toxicologist Professor Bernd Mayer was quoted as saying that on switching to e-cigarettes, the typical smoker’s cough disappeared within a few weeks, the susceptibility to infection decreased massively and the physical condition improved.
For him, the transition to e-cigarettes in terms of health improvements was comparable to stopping smoking. In an opinion written in 2016, as an appointed expert of the Federal Government, Mayer said the most significant difference between e-cigarettes and conventional cigarettes was that the former did not burn during use; so no combustion products were formed, and it was these products that were responsible for potentially fatal diseases such as cancer, heart attacks, strokes and COPD.
But Dahlmann pointed out that the proven lower degree of harmfulness of e-cigarettes had not penetrated sufficiently into the consciousness of European society. ‘A survey in Germany in 2017 revealed that more than half of the population believe e-cigarettes are at least as harmful as tobacco cigarettes,’ he said. ‘Comparable studies in Great Britain have come to similar conclusions. This also applies to the only relevant target group for e-cigarettes: adult smokers and their relatives, for whom a switch could provide significant relief.
‘In this regard, public health bodies are encouraged to spread the generally accepted facts about the e-cigarette to the wider public, so that smokers can correctly assess the alternatives.’