This July, Public Health England, the government body responsible for protecting and improving the nation's health and wellbeing, released an E-cigarettes Joint Consensus Statement in partnership with 13 other public health bodies. The report aims to develop public health consensus on policy and advice regarding the use of e-cigarettes as an aid to quit smoking. The main thrust of the statement (which can be read in full here ) is that e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful than smoking and are a useful tool to help people quit smoking.

The report states:

“We all agree that e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful than smoking. One in two lifelong smokers dies from their addiction. All the evidence suggests that the health risks posed by e-cigarettes are relatively small by comparison but we must continue to study the long-term effects.

And yet, millions of smokers have the impression that e-cigarettes are at least as harmful as tobacco. Over 1.3 million UK e-cigarette users have completely stopped smoking and almost 1.4 million others continue to smoke. We have a responsibility to provide clear information on the evidence we have, to encourage complete smoking cessation and help prevent relapse to smoking.”


In addition to this statement, Public Health England is publishing new framework advice for businesses and employers regarding vaping at work. It calls for bosses to make allowances for vapers in an attempt to encourage workers to give up traditional cigarettes.

The new official advice urges employers to make the vaping devices a more convenient option in order to encourage workers to give up traditional cigarettes, which are far more harmful and to make clear the distinction between vaping and smoking. In contrast to the known harm from exposure to secondhand smoke, there is currently no evidence of harm from secondhand e-cigarette vapour and the risks are likely to be extremely low. Professor Kevin Fenton, National Director of health and wellbeing at PHE said:

“The evidence is clear that vaping is much less harmful than smoking and that e-cigarettes are helping many smokers to quit.”

You can read the Joint Consensus Statement in full here and the new framework advice for businesses here.