Posted on 15th Jul 2011 @ 12:17 PM

Dear Mike Reckless,

Many thanks for your e-mail. I can understand that many smokers will assume that ASH is "anti-smoker" but from where I sit, the opposite is true and the "Electronic - Cigarette" is a good illustration of that.

E-Cigarettes

First let me say that I agree that "electronic cigarettes" could take off in a big way and I am as pleased about that as you are. Nicotine is one of the least harmful components in tobacco but it is the one that gives most of the pleasure. Far from campaigning against this kind of product, we have been campaigning for some time for products that give smokers the rewards they seek from smoking without the harm they cause themselves and those around them.

Secondhand smoke

I don't know how you feel about the evidence on secondhand smoke but the scientific and medical consensus is that it is harmful. At the very least it causes asthma attacks in people with asthma (Asthma UK estimate that there are around 4 million adults with asthma in the country) but there is also good evidence that it has a role in cot deaths, in causing asthma in childhood and most recently, in triggering heart attacks in adults.  One of the great things about these new nicotine products is that they don't involve smoke.

Fire risk

We've been campaigning for the last couple of years on a simple design change to cigarettes that will make them go out if they are left unsmoked and so reduce fire risk somewhat. At the moment almost all cigarettes in the UK are manufactured in such a way as to ensure that they will burn their full length. That is good for the tobacco manufacturers but I can't see how it helps smokers. At best it wastes your cigarette and at worst it could cause a fire and smoking related fires are the largest cause of domestic fire deaths in the UK. Smokers and their families are of course, most at risk particularly those who live in over-crowded housing. We've been campaigning for "reduced ignition propensity" cigarettes as they are called, but the E-cigarette is safer still as it has no burning end.

Businesses that struggle in a smokefree environment

We have long been of the view that smokers who are required not to smoke (mostly in the interest of others) should get society's support in return. One way to do that is to make it easier for them to stick by this new law by making safer nicotine products like the E-cigarette more widely available. Current Nicotine Replacement Therapy is designed and marketed to help smokers quit, that is fine for smokers who want to quit but smokers who don't want to quit need something different. A patch can take an hour to take effect and lasts all day, that might help a smoker who is on a long haul flight (or one who wants to get through Christmas day with the kids without going out into the cold for a cigarette) but it doesn't help with the need for a quick fix in the pub or while taking the kids to school in the morning. For these smokers, stronger, faster acting products are needed. Some argue that these are more addictive than the existing products but, let's face it, they are still less addictive (and much less harmful) than cigarettes. Pubs and bingo halls could find a lot of merit in selling these products in vending machines or behind the bar.

Freedom of choice

The generally accepted rule is that we should be free to do what we like as long as it doesn't harm others. The reason the "smokefree debate" turned out the way it did was because increasingly people recognise that smoking harms those around us. The same cannot be said of these products but at the moment they are pretty expensive and not a choice that is open to poorer smokers. ASH would like to see the price of safer nicotine products fall so that they are within every smoker's reach.

Finally, as I said above, smokers who replace an occasional cigarette with one of these products are reducing the harm they cause themselves from smoking. Who knows, some might even decide that they can quit completely after all - and that the nicotine products can help them.  Naturally, I would see that as a bonus.

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That was an email from ASH, commenting on stopping smoking, electronic cigarettes and some of their campaigning information.