SMOKERS NEEDED FOR VAPE PEN TRIALS IN LONDON

If you smoke more than 10 cigarettes per day, have been doing so for at least six months, and live in the London area, you could register for a new trial being carried out to determine if e-cigarettes are better for your health than a normal cigarette.

The investigation is being conducted by researchers at St. George’s University in London, in an attempt to identify if there’s an impact upon the cancer risk, brain activities and the quality of life caused by substituting normal cigarettes for vape pens offered free by the NHS. For the experiment, participants will be required to visit a clinic six times a month, at St. George’s hospital. While there, you would need to give blood, saliva and urine samples, as well as participate in electroencephalography, which is a brain monitoring tool.

As we have mentioned before, last year, The Royal College of Physicians published a report saying that the long term risks of vaping were overall equal to less than 5% of the long term risks associated with smoking. Despite this, there are still no e-cigarette products available from the NHS, as there are those who remain concerned about the long term health risk from vaping, so the experiment was designed to provide clear understanding about the effects vape pens have on the human body.

The main purpose behind the experiment is to measure the levels of toxic chemicals changing when people switch to e-cigarettes. We know vaping is definitely a much safer option, despite still containing nicotine and some chemicals. Dr Alexis Bailey, a senior lecturer in Neuropharmacology, commented on the popularity of e-cigarettes, and also noted that ‘There are many studies looking at e-cigarette use in terms of smoking cessation and various respiratory disorders and cardiovascular disease’, but that this study was different because it is measuring “the effect of transitioning from smoking to e-cigarettes on various toxicity markers which could potentially induce cancer”.

The hope is that the experiment will yield results supporting the introduction of vape pens in the NHS, as a way of combating smoking addictions, and the research team are confident they’re conducting a critical study that will drive the importance of e-cigarettes forward.  If you are interested, do give them a call.