E-cigarettes may soon be prescribed by the National Health Service in England in order to help people quit smoking products containing tobacco and other substances. This is what we read on the BBC website, after the green light came from the National Medicines Regulatory Agency (Mhra), which invited companies in the sector to submit their products for approval.
England could thus become the global forerunner of such an initiative, to which the conservative government has long been committed. “Opening the door to a NHS prescription e-cigarette has the potential to reduce the number of smokers,” said UK Health Minister Sajid Javid.
There are an estimated 3.6 million people using e-cigarettes, most of whom are former smokers, and nearly 64,000 people died from smoking in England in 2019.