According to a new study, electronic cigarettes have helped about 18,000 people to quit smoking, with no evidence of any serious side effects with their use.
Researchers at University College London (UCL) analysed the latest data on smoking and quitting in England.
The team found that that as more people started using e-cigarettes, there were more people who were successfully quitting smoking. However, they found no evidence of e-cigarettes prompting people to make the decision of trying and quitting.
E-cigarettes which work by heat nicotine-laced liquid into vapour has gained major traction in the global market, making to multi-billion dollar industry. Unlike nicotine chewing gum and patches, they give users the sensation of smoking, as they generate smoke like vapour.
Certain public health specialists believe that although e-cigarettes do not have any immediate side effects, they might have long term effects.
According to estimates around 2.8 million people in the UK use e-cigarettes. The study which looked into the side effects revealed that there were no serious side effects with respect to e-cigarettes found over the course of two years. Among non-serious side-effects, throat and mouth irritation were found to be most common.
Tobbaco continues to be one of the biggest killers in the world,with a predicted death toll of a billion by the end of the century, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
