The report ‘Changing behaviour: Electronic cigarettes‘ published this week, aims to raise awareness and makes a number of recommendations pertaining to how e-cigarettes should be included in smoking cessation programs.

“For smokers trying to quit, e-cigarettes are more attractive than traditional smoking cessation methods, such as nicotine replacement therapy, and at least as effective.”
------Dr Lynne Dawkins, Associate Professor, London South Bank University

“For smokers trying to quit, e-cigarettes are more attractive than traditional smoking cessation methods, such as nicotine replacement therapy, and at least as effective.” said lead author Dr Lynne Dawkins, an Associate Professor at London South Bank University.

The positive effect of the hand to mouth motion of vaping

In line with what Dawkins said, a number of studies have already indicated that the devices are smokers’ preferred smoking cessation tools. This is due to the fact that the hand to mouth motion required to vape, closely imitates the action of smoking, making the transition from smoking to not-smoking a smoother one for addicts.

“There is also mounting evidence that they are much safer than tobacco smoking. As a consumer product, although most Stop Smoking Services are not currently able to supply these, we recommend that they endorse them and support their use by smokers trying to quit.”
Dr Lynne Dawkins, Associate Professor, London South Bank University

“There is also mounting evidence that they are much safer than tobacco smoking. As a consumer product, although most Stop Smoking Services are not currently able to supply these, we recommend that they endorse them and support their use by smokers trying to quit.” added the author.


Dr. Dawkins and co-author Dr. Hayden Mc.Robbie conclude the report by offering the following suggestions :

“ Improve education about the relative harms of smoking, nicotine and e-cigarettes.
Combine existing best practice, NHS Stop Smoking Services (SSS) with the most popular quitting method (e-cigarettes) to increase attractiveness of the SSS and further boost success rate. Offer e-cigarettes and technical support as part of the SSS and fund the services to support smokers to quit.
Use policy interventions and fiscal measures to raise the cost of smoking and reduce the cost of e-cigarettes. Continue to increase taxes, smoke-free regulation and purchasing barriers for cigarettes but regulate the reduced risk product less heavily. For e-cigarettes, avoid taxation and ‘vape-free’ legislation and promote unrestricted advertising of factual information.
Regulate to promote product development — allow e-cigarettes to further evolve and improve so they are safer, more appealing and satisfying for more smokers.
Invest in research to continue to explore the effects of e-cigarettes on smoking cessation and to determine which factors promote a successful transition”
E-cigs satisfy all aspects of cigarette addiction



In an interview on The Psychologist, Dr. Dawkins referred once more to the fact that research keeps indicating that smokers crave both nicotine and the physical action of smoking, while NRTs available in pharmacies satisfy only the former. “We await the results of clinical trials to determine whether this promising new device can indeed improve our current arsenal of smoking cessation techniques.” she concluded.