No effect of building a bridge between illegal smoking and cigarettes
The British Public Health Service (PHE), the UK's top health authority, said the latest survey results in the UK do not support the view that the use of electronic cigarettes is a gateway to smoking.
The renowned British smoking organization Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) also affirmed: There is no evidence that e-cigarette has increased smoking rates in this age group. In fact, the rate of smoking among young people has decreased significantly since e-cigarette appeared on the market.
A 2022 study conducted by researchers at the University of Bristol led by Prof. Lion Shahab, Professor of Psychology, Department of Behavioural Sciences & Health, Institute of Epidemiology and Health, said that there is clear evidence that switching to e-cigarettes, as well as other products such as TLLN, snus-shaped cigarettes, is beneficial for people who are smoking, along with little evidence of the effect of bridge-setting to cigarettes. Even with more negative assumptions, if we believe that e-cigarette has many risks, does not help many smokers quit and increases the ability to start using nicotine, then e-cigarette will eventually bring more benefits than risks, said the Professor. Lion Shahab concluded.
In Vietnam, in recent years, when more and more international scientific evidence has proven the ability to reduce the harmful effects of TLTHM, the controversy surrounding this issue has also decreased. However, there are concerns that if e-cigarettes are legally put into business, it will easily lead to a bridge between e-cigarettes and cigarettes.
Regarding this issue, many international experts have denied it: It is very rare to start smoking e-cigarettes in people who have never smoked. The study further explains the link between smoking and electronic cigarette use, if any, is dependent on an effective control model, in which all stakeholders must have a shared responsibility, Dr. Colin Mendelsohn and Wayne Hall, in a 2020 study in Australia, affirmed.
Need to control and improve management capacity
Clearly identifying TLTHM as a product designed to reduce the harm to adults who are smoking cigarettes to reduce the harm to themselves and the community, so advanced countries have soon put this product under the management of the law, and coordinated many different measures to control and prevent young people from using it, including cooperation with reputable manufacturers.
Many countries stipulate that e-commerce products containing nicotine are not allowed to be sold to people under the age of 18. In addition, in countries like the UK, to be allowed to do business, electronic cigarettes containing nicotine must meet many different requirements such as containing less than 20 mg of nicotine/ml; Health warning label "This product contains nicotine as a highly addictive substance. "; Register with MHRA and are listed on the MHRA website.
In addition, there are some ingredients banned from being included in nicotine-containing solutions, including vitamins, stimulants such as caffeine or taurine, colorants and chemicals that cause cancer, causing dotulation and reproductive toxicity in the form of not burning.
Prof. Lion Shahab believes that the above scientific evidence and research results can " helping health agencies and policymakers feel secure that encouraging people who cannot quit smoking to switch to these harm reduction products will benefit public health".
Agreeing with the above view, leading health experts in Vietnam all believe that quitting smoking is the most effective way to improve health, but for those who cannot quit, switching to non-smoking products to reduce harm should be encouraged. For patients, the conversion should be done as soon as possible. Experts also believe that, to avoid consequences due to the use of poor quality floating products on the market, the state needs to soon have specific management policies for floating airports. "We need to manage and improve management capacity. How much strict management is due to our capacity, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Van Ngoc - Vice President of the Vietnam Lung Association, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Breathering Association shared in a tobacco seminar held last August.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) and the National Cancer Center (NCC) concluded that exposure to aerosol from TLLN in a closed smoking room under normal conditions is considered acceptable, as the lifelong risk of cancer from heated tobacco products is expected to be below 1/100,000 (safe level - VSD). This is three times lower than regular cigarettes under the same conditions.
The US FDA, the German Federal Risk Assessment Institute (BfR), the National Institute of Public Health and Environment of the Netherlands (RIVM)... all have research and concluded that the content of harmful and potentially harmful agents in TLTHM is significantly reduced compared to burnt cigarettes.
