Hello, Mr. Zeller, Dr. Califf, are you paying attention?
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/28/h...ting-smoking-royal-college-of-physicians.html
Some American response highlights:
“These guys, in my view, are going off a cliff,” said Stanton A. Glantz
, a professor of medicine at the University of California who has been outspoken in his criticism of e-cigarettes. “They are taking England into a series of policies that five years from now they all will really regret. They are turning England into this giant experiment on behalf of the tobacco industry.”
“This is two countries taking pretty much diametrically opposed positions,” said Kenneth E. Warner, a professor of public health at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. “One is focused exclusively on the hypothetical risks, none of which have been established. The other is focusing on potential benefits.”
He added, “The British are saying, ‘Let’s see how we can help the main smokers today, who by the way are largely poor and less educated, and let’s not focus so much on kids, who may or may not be sickened by this 40 years down the line.’ ”
"
A spokesman for the C.D.C. said the agency would not comment on any report other than its own. He reiterated the C.D.C. position on e-cigarettes: “There is currently no conclusive scientific evidence supporting the use of e-cigarettes as a safe and effective cessation tool at the population level. The science thus far indicates most e-cigarette users continue to smoke conventional cigarettes.”
"Professor Glantz cited his recent analysis
as evidence that e-cigarettes in fact reduce the chances someone will quit smoking."
The report walks through a decade of science, listing studies that find in favor of e-cigarettes as well as studies that do not. It asserts that e-cigarettes are only 5 percent as harmful as traditional cigarettes, a conclusion that some American experts say has been lost in the United States in the rush to condemn e-cigarettes. It states bluntly that long-term effects of nicotine are likely to be minimal.
