People are taking up smoking in large part due to the misinformation surrounding vaping and other alternative nicotine options. Unfortunately the mainstream media denounce the safer alternatives as being equally as harmful despite the UK government Office of Health Inequity and Disparity (formerly Public Health England) and the Royal College of Physicians and most other significant UK public health academics that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking based on solid science and evidence that shows over more than 10 years that it is is the smoke that causes the death and disease and not nicotine. While this misinformation flourishes young people believe that smoking and vaping are equally harmful when they are not. A harm reduction approach that had been followed by the UK until recently promoted vaping as a safer alternative and now there is mainstream confusion and misinformation about these facts. Hopefully, this rectified in time but while it prevails the dangers of smoke and smoking, as distinct from nicotine, are not well understood and young people are taking up smoking. Prohibitions and bans do not prevent young people doing anything.
HIFA profile: Jeannie Cameron is Managing Director of JCIC International, Guernsey, UK. Professional interests: International Law, International Public Health, Women's Health, Alternative Medicines, Tobacco Harm Reduction, Benefits of nicotine and cannabinoids against cognitive decline and weight control in post-menopausal women. Email address: jcic AT me.com