Experts have mixed views over whether e-cigarettes (like the one pictured) are the answer to getting people to quit tobacco smoking. Photo / File
Electronic cigarettes are not the silver bullet to stubbing out tobacco cigarette use as some experts claim, according to the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ.
The foundation is warning the public there was no good evidence about how healthy they are or that using e-cigarettes would reduce the number of
people smoking normal tobacco cigarettes following comments made by a Massey University professor that smokeless products such as vapes would reduce the number of smokers.
ARFNZ medical director and Thoracic Society president Stuart Jones said he was aware some people who were struggling to give up smoking did find it easier to swap to e-cigarettes. However he said e-cigarettes should only be available to those people who might be part of a cessation programme.
E-cigarettes are electrical devices that replicate real cigarettes by heating a solution (e-liquid) to produce a vapour.
"But what we don't want is our younger generation of New Zealanders using e-cigarettes or vaping thinking they are not harmful. We just don't have enough information on the long-term effects of these products," Jones said.
