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 the HCSP.
According to this advisory body, “There is insufficient evidence-based knowledge to suggest [les cigarettes électroniques] as aids to smoking cessation in the management of smokers by health professionals ”. “The potential benefits and risks of the medium or long term use of electronic cigarettes with or without nicotine, have not yet been established”, continues the HCSP, which wants studies to be conducted on the subject.
However, the HCSP does not totally condemn these products, which may “To be used outside [ou en complément] care within the framework of the healthcare 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”.
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Fine particles whose long-term effects are unknown
This notice replaces a precedent dated 2016, in which the advisory body considered that the electronic cigarette could be considered as a “Smoking cessation aid tool” for people who want to stop smoking.
The electronic cigarette emits, by heating a liquid composed of propylene glycol or glycerol, a vapor generally loaded with nicotine and aromas. It does not emit tar or carbon monoxide, the two most harmful elements in tobacco smoke that cause cancer and cardiovascular disease. But the vapor contains fine particles whose long-term effects are unknown.
The question divides the medical community. On the one hand, the health authorities are very cautious: in July, the World Health Organization (WHO) had repeated that electronic cigarettes could be “Dangerous” and needed to be regulated.
But this caution is considered guilty by addiction specialists. The latter emphasize that the electronic cigarette is infinitely less dangerous than tobacco and that, to choose, the first is preferable to the second.