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E-cigarettes: an evidence update <br />6 <br />Key messages <br />Key meages <br />1. Smokers who have tried other methods of quitting without success could be <br />encouraged to try e-cigarettes (EC) to stop smoking and stop smoking services <br />should support smokers using EC to quit by offering them behavioural support. <br /> <br />2. Encouraging smokers who cannot or do not want to stop smoking to switch to EC <br />could help reduce smoking related disease, death and health inequalities. <br /> <br />3. There is no evidence that EC are undermining the long-term decline in cigarette <br />smoking among adults and youth, and may in fact be contributing to it. Despite <br />some experimentation with EC among never smokers, EC are attracting very few <br />people who have never smoked into regular EC use. <br /> <br />4. Recent studies support the Cochrane Review findings that EC can help people to <br />quit smoking and reduce their cigarette consumption. There is also evidence that <br />EC can encourage quitting or cigarette consumption reduction even among those <br />not intending to quit or rejecting other support. More research is needed in this <br />area. <br /> <br />5. When used as intended, EC pose no risk of nicotine poisoning to users, but e - <br />liquids should be in ‘childproof' packaging. The accuracy of nicotine content <br />labelling currently raises no major concerns. <br /> <br />6. There has been an overall shift towards the inaccurate perception of EC being as <br />harmful as cigarettes over the last year in contrast to the current expert estimate <br />that using EC is around 95% safer than smoking. <br /> <br />7. Whilst protecting non-smoking children and ensuring the products on the market <br />are as safe and effective as possible are clearly important goals, new regulations <br />currently planned should also maximise the public health opportunities of EC. <br /> <br />8. Continued vigilance and research in this area are needed. <br />