As Wales prepares to control ‘vaping’ from 2017, we ask the experts

Does the use of e-cigarettes normalise smoking? The Welsh government believes it could do so. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

ROBERT WEST

Professor of health psychology, University College London

I don’t think it’s right to legislate to ban them [in enclosed places]. The reason why the ban was brought in for smoking was very clear: there was good evidence that it harms the health of non-smokers. That’s not the case for e-cigarettes.

The Welsh Assembly talks about concern about it renormalising smoking. There isn’t any evidence to back that up at all, in fact quite the opposite. It’s not harming the health to bystanders, it’s not renormalising smoking. If someone lights up a cigarette, anywhere within about 50 yards of you, everyone knows that immediately, whereas someone could be vaping right next to you and you’d hardly even notice it. So that then only raises the question of whether banning it is purely for the comfort and convenience of people in the area who don’t want to be exposed to the smell of the flavours in the e-cigarettes, and I think that’s a matter for the individual establishment to decide. That wouldn’t be something that you’d legislate on.

JULIE BISHOP

Health consultant, Public Health Wales

We believe it simplifies things for people if we harmonise the regulations between e-cigarettes and ordinary cigarettes. While the risks of e-cigarettes in relation to exposure to the vapour is not anything like the same magnitude of risk as tobacco smoke, this isn’t the argument. We’ve got a similar-looking behaviour which makes enforcement more difficult and has the potential to renormalise the idea of smoking. If we created a situation in which it did become normal and that was shown to be a problem, we’d then have a more difficult place to come back from.

MATTHEW BRETT

E-cigarette user, aged 24, from Stanwell, Surrey

There are no odours that can affect other people. The only chemicals in this [e-cigarette] are nicotine and PG (propylene glycol), and that’s not really harmful to people, so I believe it shouldn’t be banned [in enclosed places]. Then again, in an area where there’s lots of children, maybe it’s not a good idea because it could influence them. But in areas like pubs I don’t think it should be banned. I tend to smoke when I don’t have this [e-cigarette], but if I wanted to give up, I could easily. These are a great help.

GEORGE BUTTERWORTH,

Tobacco policy manager, Cancer Research UK

We don’t support the ban on the use of e-cigarettes indoors in Wales because smoke-free legislation was designed to protect people from the harm of secondhand smoke and there’s no evidence to suggest that those same harms exist from e-cigarette vapour. There’s been arguments that e-cigarettes renormalise smoking or make young people use e-cigarettes and there’s just no evidence across the UK to suggest that that’s the case. We know that e-cigarettes are almost certainly far safer than tobacco cigarettes and they provide an opportunity for people to move away from tobacco, which kills up to two-thirds of its long-term users.

Source : TheGuardian