E-cigarettes: Studies presented at the ERS Congress

Munich, Germany: The latest evidence on the potential benefits and risks of e-cigarettes has been presented this week at the European Respiratory Society's International Congress in Munich.

Electronic cigarettes have received much attention in recent years as their use has increased across Europe. As the devices are relatively new, there is little long-term evidence detailing the potential harm or benefit that these devices can cause.

During the ERS Congress, a number of abstracts will be presented on the topic. The key outcomes are revealed here:

Research into the short-term effects of e-cigarettes has established a link between the devices and asthma and emphysema in a mouse model

E-cigarettes were found to cause similar changes to the cells in the lungs that are seen with normal cigarettes

Research found that the devices could be used as a successful quitting aid

Study shows a lack of consensus among doctors advising patients

ERS position on e-cigarettes

The ERS agrees with the recent report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and is opposed to the use of unregulated e-cigarettes. While the short-term negative impact on health appears not as great as tobacco cigarettes, the long-term effects of e-cigarettes are not known. As a Society grounded in scientific principles, ERS believes that the precautionary principle should be applied when scientific evidence is inconclusive and insufficient.

E-cigarettes: miracle or health risk? More than two million people in the UK get their nicotine hit via electronic cigarettes. But as 'vaping' replaces smoking - and is enthusiastically marketed by the beleaguered tobacco giants - no one is yet sure how safe it actually is.

###

The World Health Organisation (WHO) calls the devices' safety "illusive", noting that the chemicals they contain are often not disclosed and have not been properly tested. The US Federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has said there is "enough evidence" to say that switching to electronic cigarettes would "likely be healthier" than smoking. But mainly because of the near complete lack of regulatory oversight, and because e-cigarettes do, after all, contain nicotine, which is far from being a "benign substance", the CDC will not go so far as to pronounce them safe either.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has also warned it is worried by the lack of peer-reviewed studies on e-cigarette safety, and public health officials elsewhere have expressed concerns about the purity of the products' ingredients, the precise dose of nicotine delivered by different devices and liquids, inaccurate product labelling and an overall lack of quality control in the manufacturing process. "The real truth," says Gilmore, "is that we just do not know. We cannot say e-cigarettes are risk-free. We cannot yet be sure what impact they will have on smoking rates or population health, whether they'll be the miracle product or not."