Matt Evison is weary that labelling vaping as dangerous could deter smokers
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A selection of disposable vapes with bright and colourful packaging
Disposable vapes will soon be banned in the UK(Image: Getty Images)
A chest physician and lung cancer specialist for NHS Greater Manchester has spoken out about the initial findings of Manchester's vaping study.
Dr Matt Evison, a lung cancer specialist and clinical lead for Greater Manchester's Make Smoking History programme, said that the attention surrounding the unpublished findings of Manchester Metropolitan University's study into vaping could be concerning from a tobacco control perspective.
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This comes as the leader of the study, the world’s first controlled study into vaping's long-term effects, Dr Maxime Boidin, hit headlines in February when he stated that the initial findings indicate vaping could be "just as harmful" as smoking.
A selection of disposable vapes with bright and colourful packaging
Disposable vapes will soon be banned in the UK(Image: Getty Images)
Evison argues that publicising these findings before the evidence has been published and peer reviewed could be dangerous as it could deter tobacco smokers from making the switch.
"From a tobacco control perspective, vaping is a positive thing," he said. “It is a treatment for tobacco dependency, and it’s an effective way of helping someone to become smoke-free and reduce their levels of harm and risk, and from that early death and illness that tobacco inevitably delivers.
“Any discussion about vaping has to be in that scene, so for somebody that smokes, one of their best chances of becoming smoke-free is by using a nicotine vape.
"In the last five years about three million people have stopped smoking with a nicotine vape, knowing two out of three of those would have died because of their smoking, so that public health benefit is substantial.
"If we send out the message to the public that vaping is as dangerous or worse as smoking, which is not true based on medical evidence, then that risks the public thinking that is true and it might prevent someone from switching from tobacco to vaping."
Dr Matt Evison, Clinical Lead for Making Smoking History(Image: NHS GM)
The tobacco control programme is aiming to make Greater Manchester a smoke-free region by 2030, stating that smoking remains the biggest cause of preventable illness and death in the region with around 3,900 smoking-related deaths every year.
Evison argues that the discourse around vaping should be separated in two ways, from viewing vaping as a cure for cigarette smokers, to analysing the problem with young people taking up the habit.
He said: "The concern, and what makes this path very difficult to navigate, is then an entirely separate issue which is about youth vaping, or the uptake in vaping in young people, which is not about the prevention of harms from tobacco.
"That is about the risk of somebody who doesn't smoke taking up vaping, so instead of going from substantial harm risk reduction to a fraction of that, you're going from no harm to whatever that harm is to an individual of using vaping."
Dr Maxime Boidin, leader of the world’s first controlled study into vaping's long-term effects, with subject Adam Petrulevic
Dr Maxime Boidin, leader of the world’s first controlled study into vaping's long-term effects, with subject Adam Petrulevic
The solution, he believes, is for the government to pass the "urgently needed" Tobacco and Vapes Bill, in order to reduce the accessibility of e-cigarettes to young people.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill, introduced in November 2024, aims to promote public health by reducing tobacco use and regulating vaping products in the United Kingdom.
The key provisions of the bill include phasing out tobacco sales, extending age restrictions for vaping products and regulating vape flavours and packaging to deter children.
He said: "It's completely right that we do everything, just like we do for all young people to protect them from the harms of alcohol, from social media, from bullying, from all of those potential sources of harm.
"We have to protect them from [vaping], and we do that through legislation and regulation."