A leading Danish smoking-cessation expert, chief physician MD, PhD Philip Tønnesen, has today published an article stating that e-cigarettes help many to quit smoking. He thereby goes against Kræftens Bekæmpelse and the World Health Organization (WHO), which both want e-cigarettes banned until there is scientific evidence for their health benefits.
E-cigarettes according to the article have many advantages; among other things it causes 11% of smokers in a survey to quit within a year, which may not sound like much but can be compared with the placebo group's result of 4%. Furthermore, there have not been many smokers under 25 since the e-cigarette was introduced to the market, so Tønnesen does not think that Kræftens Bekæmpelse's concern that more young people will start smoking because of it is realistic - albeit with reservations.
Tønnesen also says that there should be legislation and quality control regarding e-cigarettes so that the product becomes “as clean as possible”. Until then doctors should not recommend e-cigarettes to smoking patients, but should instead recommend the usual medical smoking-cessation aids that are tested and known to work.
However, he adds:
“But tobacco smoking is so dangerous. It cuts on average 12 years from your life, and half die from a smoking-related disease. And regardless of what one can say unfavorably about e-cigarettes, no one in their right mind could believe that they would be able to cause the same harmful effects.”
