How do you like your quit methods

Try as I might, I couldn’t ignore this subject tonight. Spurred on by the UK’s Faculty of Public Health (FPH). Just in case you didn’t know, our benevolent friends at FPH call themselves “the standard setting body for specialists in public health in the United Kingdom.” I read that as purely bureaucratic.

Oh, I forgot to mention they are a registered charity. Of course they are, why is it that only charities have anything to say these days?

So the FPH, dear reader is specifically claiming in this statement that electronic cigarettes are not as effective as supported NHS nicotine replacement therapy. They cite that there is not enough evidence that people quit smoking when using e-cigs.

OK then, that makes about as much sense as I do after a few too many drinks. Let me draw your attention to the next part of the statement.

Firstly dear FPH, e-cigarette advertising is strictly controlled and you may remember that a few of them have already been banned by the ASA. Advertising is pretty much restricted to online and in some printed materials. That’s about it. Secondly, this statement is about quitting smoking, which makes me wonder why advertising has even been mentioned at all. It must be those pesky kids again.

“Decades of lobbying by public health related organisations”, well that’s a pretty way of putting the continuous harassment that smokers undergo by “public health related organisations” isn’t it?

Pay special attention to this part folks as it is pretty telling:

To be honest, I missed this on the first read through. It looks like they are claiming that e-cigarettes will undermine everything they’ve done so far. You know, the bullying tactics, the plain packs debacle, smoking bans etc. If they had an ounce of sense, they’d embrace this technology as it could be used to play a role in their continued “war on tobacco”. But then, this is the FPH, led by none other than the anti-ecig, anti-smoking J. Ashton. How quaint. The pieces of this puzzle are clicking into place, and it isn’t a picture that I particularly like, no it isn’t a spider.

Finally, we get to their “advice”. Which boils down to “see your GP” or speak to the quitline as they just “don’t know enough yet about e-cigarettes to be sure that they are a safe alternative to this proven method of quitting smoking for good.”

So, in a sordid little nutshell they don’t know if e-cigs are safe, but they also don’t have enough evidence relating to e-cigs as a cessation method so you’ll have better luck quitting smoking by talking to your GP, or using NRT than you would if you used an e-cig.

Quite.