A leading health expert has argued that the message that vapes are ‘95% safer’ than cigarettes has backfired. Dr. Mike McKean, vice president for policy at the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, told the BBC that it was a ‘very unwise thing to have done and it’s opened the door to significant chaos’. The messaging was part of a 2015 review published by Public Health England (PHE) that claimed e-cigarettes are around 95% less harmful than tobacco.
More than one in 10 young people aged 16 to 24 said they were daily or occasional vape users in 2022, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Dr McKean added that there are now many children and young people who have taken up vaping and never intended to smoke. ‘Difference in harms’ Professor Ann McNeil was one of the co-authors of the original report. She told the BBC that the report was based…
