As we see politicians push for e-cigarettes taxes and bans it is important to understand that this will lead to the deaths of millions of smokers who are in search for an aid in quitting. More and more science is coming out defending the effective of e-cigarettes as a quitting tool. After a long string of studies proving the need a recent study by the Swiss National Science Foundation published in The New England Journal of Medicine proves the benefit of the use of e-cigarettes in smoking-cessation counseling. A random set of adults who smoked at least 5 cigarettes a day and wanted to quit were given 6 months’ worth of e-cigarettes products and smoking-cessation counseling. Their health, tobacco, and nicotine intake were tracked over the 6-month period. The accompanying editorial reminds us of the importance of protecting vaping and nicotine replacement therapies to help people quit smoking deadly cigarettes. Americans for Tax Reform completed a review of the scientific study.
E-cigarettes help people quit smoking harmful tobacco cigarettes. It is already known that e-cigarettes are shown to be 95% less harmful than cigarettes and the most effective tool for smoking cessation. If these taxes and bans are passed access will be limited to these lifesaving tools. This study proved that when used in anti-smoking counseling e-cigarette users had quit rates approximately double that of those who did not. 6 months after they started the study 59.6% of the invention group were tobacco free. It was also found that 41% reported no cough. The e-cigarettes made this possible and are a product that needs to be protected and accessible.
The editorial reminds us that during the heated vaping regulation debate, “This debate often overshadows the evidence that e-cigarettes can be used as smoking-cessation tools that might help the 28 million U.S. adults who still smoke.” We need these nicotine replacement and vaping products to be available to all adult smokers who quit. Millions of lives depend on it.