Calling the regulations issued by the World Health Organisation about e-cigarettes "misleading," a group of researchers argued that e-cigs can be beneficial for smokers.
Last month, WHO stated that there should be more regulation of e-cigarettes and legal steps should be taken to stop the use of these devices indoors, in public and work places.
However, London researchers said they were "shocked and surprised" after reading the recommendations.
"I felt it was an inaccurate portrayal of the evidence on e-cigarettes," Ann McNeill, a researcher at the national addiction center at King's College London said at news conference, reports Reuters.
"E-cigarettes are new, and we certainly don't yet have all the answers to their long-term health impact, but what we do know is that they are much safer than cigarettes, which kill over 6 million people a year worldwide," said McNeil.
According to a study by the University College London, for every million British smokers who give up tobacco products in favor of e-cigarettes, more than 6,000 premature deaths could be prevented every year. This would translate into 54,000 lives saved annually.
When it comes to e-cigarettes and marijuana, results of the studies lead to nowhere as the opinions are divided on large scale. Recent research shows that e-cigarettes release more levels of toxin in the air than traditional cigarettes. Another study claims that smoking e-cigarettes can be a "gateway" to other drug abuse.
To this, Professor Robert West and Dr Jamie Brown from UCL's Department of Epidemiology and Public Health answer that the concentration of toxins in e-cigarettes is in fact "very low." They said that the vapor these cigarettes contain is "nothing like the concentrations of carcinogens and toxins as cigarette smoke. In fact, toxin concentrations are almost all well below one-twentieth that of cigarette smoke," reports Sky News.
The risks of smoking e-cigarettes are unlikely, and some were already proven not to exist, with the list of benefits being huge, according to researcher Prof Peter Hajek. He added that it would be a revolutionary intervention in public health if smokers turned to e-cigarettes from the conventional ones, reports BBC.
"So killing benefits, which are huge, for risks which are small is like asking people to stop using mobile phones and tablets, or restrict their use and further development, because of a one in 10 million chance that the battery might overheat in your device."
