US University Professor Recommends Countries Promote E-cigarettes as Harm Reduction Tools

 Recently, the Dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health and his team published new research suggesting that there is enough evidence to support e-cigarettes as a primary aid for adults trying to quit smoking. The researchers recommend that the US, Australia, and Canada's governments and professional medical teams consider the potential of e-cigarettes in smoking cessation and reduce misconceptions about them. Additionally, Swiss universities using MRI detection have found that nicotine e-cigarettes cause less lung damage than traditional cigarettes.

Currently, the public controversy surrounding nicotine e-cigarettes mainly focuses on the risks to teenagers and the potential for helping adults quit smoking. Professor Kenneth Warner, Dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, believes that promoting e-cigarettes as harm reduction tools does not conflict with the goal of reducing e-cigarette use among teenagers. The key lies in effective government and media promotion. Professor Warner has also co-authored an article, "Nicotine e-cigarettes as a tool for smoking cessation," with colleagues from King's College London, Harvard University, and other institutions, which has been published in Nature's medical journal.

The paper points out that there is enough evidence to suggest that e-cigarettes can be used as a primary aid for adult smoking cessation. However, very few members of the public and healthcare professionals recognize their potential value in harm reduction. Professor Warner's team analyzed many countries using e-cigarettes for smoking cessation and smoke-free countries from a global perspective. They found that in the UK and New Zealand, e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation option receive a high level of support and promotion. However, in the US, Canada, and Australia, despite acknowledging the potential advantages of e-cigarettes, they have not received effective recommendations from governments and medical institutions.

The researchers also cited the FDA's designation of some e-cigarette brands as "appropriate for the protection of public health" as a marketing standard, stating that this action "indirectly implies that the FDA believes e-cigarettes can help some people quit smoking, otherwise they wouldn't do it."

Another study, initiated by the University of Bern, the University of Zurich, and the University of Basel in Switzerland, suggests that nicotine e-cigarettes can effectively promote increased lung perfusion and blood flow. Researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to monitor lung function in 44 healthy participants. The results showed that, compared to normal conditions, tobacco users had significantly reduced lung perfusion/blood flow after smoking, while e-cigarette users experienced enhanced lung perfusion/blood flow after using nicotine e-cigarettes. The researchers believe this indicates that nicotine e-cigarettes do not inhibit lung function like traditional cigarette smoke and that they have a smaller impact on lung damage.

Both Professor Warner's and the Swiss universities' studies recognize the enormous potential of e-cigarettes as harm reduction tools. As Professor Warner stated in his paper, e-cigarettes are not a panacea for ending tobacco harm but can contribute to this noble public health goal.