Public Health England, a UK government entity, has endorsed the used of e-cigarettes as part of its Stoptober campaign to help Britons quit smoking.
U.K. gives thumbs up to vaping
The Stoptober campaign was launched by Public Health England in 2012 as way to help British citizens to quit smoking. The campaign is also supported by Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation.
U.K. citizens taking part in the program will get support they need to help reach their goal of quitting smoking, including face-to-face support, a progress tracking app, stop smoking medicines and more.
The big news is that the program officially endorses the use of e-cigarette kits to help smokers quit. The Stoptober campaign website has a whole section dedicated to providing introductory information to those still unfamiliar with e-cigarettes.
Since the health care system is paid for by the government through taxes, it makes sense to limit the health costs any way possible and it doesn't have the same problem with vaping other governments seem to have.
cancer research uk infographic
Cancer Research U.K. has even released a very positive infographic that is very informative to smokers that may be considering vaping as an alternative to smoking.
Previous campaigns by tobacco control advocates from around the world have demonized vaping over the past decade leading to many current smokers and the public in general to have the mistaken belief that e-cigarettes are just as or even more harmful than smoking.
The London Fire Brigade has got on board with the Stoptober campaign, also endorsing vaping as a better option than smoking for fire safety reasons. The Brigade says that even though there are four times as many smokers than vapers in London, there have been 255 times more smoking related fires.
Astonishingly, our statistics show that in the past three years there have been just over 3580 smoking fires compared to just 15 fires caused by e-cigarettes.
Presumably most vaping related fires are due to the user not being aware of proper battery safety when it comes to using their vape mods, otherwise the number of fires could be far lower.
The campaign has a pretty good tag line that can really give some hope to a smoker who has been trying to quit smoking for years.
Stop smoking for 28 days and you're 5 times more likely to quit for good
From Public Health England:
Stoptober has driven over 1 million quit attempts to date and is the biggest mass quit attempt in the country. It is based on research that shows that if you can stop smoking for 28-days, you are five times more likely to stay smoke-free for good.There a lots of ways to quit and Stoptober can help people choose what works for them. You can quit using medication (including nicotine replacement therapies such as patches and gum) or e-cigarettes. Stoptober offers a range of free support to help people on their quitting journey including an app, daily emails, Facebook Messenger and lots of encouragement from the Stoptober online community on Facebook. In addition, people can get expert face-to-face advice from local stop smoking services. Those who use stop smoking aids and who get face-to-face support from their local stop smoking service are up to four times more likely to quit successfully....Launched in 2012, Stoptober is the 28-day stop smoking challenge from PHE that encourages and supports smokers across England towards quitting for good. Stoptober is based on the insight that if you can stop smoking for 28-days, you are five times more likely to be able to stay quit for good. The campaign chunks down the quitting process, presents it as a more manageable 28 days and rallies people around a specific date to get started.Stoptober encourages as many smokers as possible to prepare to quit from 1 October by taking part in the campaign and utilizing the range of free resources and support available. Throughout October the campaign will continue to recruit smokers to take part, whilst also encouraging and supporting people to quit through the 28-day smoke-free journey.
Stoptober has driven over 1 million quit attempts to date and is the biggest mass quit attempt in the country. It is based on research that shows that if you can stop smoking for 28-days, you are five times more likely to stay smoke-free for good.
There a lots of ways to quit and Stoptober can help people choose what works for them. You can quit using medication (including nicotine replacement therapies such as patches and gum) or e-cigarettes. Stoptober offers a range of free support to help people on their quitting journey including an app, daily emails, Facebook Messenger and lots of encouragement from the Stoptober online community on Facebook. In addition, people can get expert face-to-face advice from local stop smoking services. Those who use stop smoking aids and who get face-to-face support from their local stop smoking service are up to four times more likely to quit successfully.
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Launched in 2012, Stoptober is the 28-day stop smoking challenge from PHE that encourages and supports smokers across England towards quitting for good. Stoptober is based on the insight that if you can stop smoking for 28-days, you are five times more likely to be able to stay quit for good. The campaign chunks down the quitting process, presents it as a more manageable 28 days and rallies people around a specific date to get started.
Stoptober encourages as many smokers as possible to prepare to quit from 1 October by taking part in the campaign and utilizing the range of free resources and support available. Throughout October the campaign will continue to recruit smokers to take part, whilst also encouraging and supporting people to quit through the 28-day smoke-free journey.
The endorsement of e-cigarettes from so many government departments and officials is good news for the vaping community worldwide.
Perhaps the FDA and other agencies here in the United States will take a cue from our ally from across the pond by giving e-cigarettes a positive regulatory environment instead of what we have now.