The High Council of Public Health recommends that doctors not advise vaping to wean oneself off from – franceinfo

The HCSP has so far considered that the electronic cigarette could “be considered as an aid in stopping or reducing tobacco consumption”.

Posted the 01/05/2022 4:20 PM

Update the 05/01/2022 16:30

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The electronic cigarette should not be offered as a tool for smoking cessation by health professionals, for lack of perspective on its benefits and risks, believes the High Council of Public Health (HCSP) in a notice published Tuesday, January 4.

“Health professionals who support a smoker in a process of smoking cessation must use drug treatments or not that have proven their effectiveness”, like nicotine patches or gums, judges this advisory body. According to him, “there is insufficient evidence-based knowledge to suggest [les cigarettes électroniques] as aids to smoking cessation in the management of smokers by health professionals “.

However, this body does not totally condemn these products, which may “be used outside (or in addition to) support within the framework of the care system”. Even if we do not know precisely the relationship between their benefits and their risks, it is not excluded that “these products used outside the health system can represent an aid for certain consumers and thus contribute to improving their health”, underlines the HCSP.

This opinion replaces a precedent dated 2016, in which the HCSP considered that the electronic cigarette could “to be considered as an aid to stop or reduce tobacco consumption”.

The question divides the medical community. On the one hand, the health authorities are very cautious: in July, the WHO (World Health Organization) had repeated that electronic cigarettes could be “dangerous” and needed to be regulated. But this caution is considered guilty by addiction specialists. They underline that the electronic cigarette is infinitely less dangerous than the tobacco and that to choose, the first is preferable to the second.

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