I was interested to read your report on the British Medical Association recommending that vapes should only be available over the counter (Vapes should be sold behind the counter, just like cigarettes, says BMA, 28 August). It should go further and recommend, as happened in Australiathat vapes should be prescription only. We must remember that vapes were introduced to help tobacco smokers kick the habit. It was recognized that the products of tobacco combustion were the leading cause of lung cancer.
However, this did nothing for their addiction to nicotine, which was the main reason they smoked. Nicotine is probably the most addictive chemical known to man, far more addictive even than heroin. It affects the nervous system and causes addiction. It also affects the cardiovascular system, increasing the risk of heart attack and the release of hormones.
So all vapes that contain nicotine are addictive, and people who use vapes should be considered drug addicts. What is alarming is that younger and younger children are starting to vape, and thus becoming addicted to nicotine at a much younger age, with unknown future consequences.
Also alarming is that the propellant that vaporizes contains a number of chemicals such as propylene glycol and flavorings. There is no understanding of what happens to these chemicals when they are heated to around 200C during vaporization, and what the long term effect of this is on the lungs and other organs after, say, 40 years. So vapes should be prescription only, and doctors should do everything they can to wean their patients off them.
Prof. Anthony Milton
Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology, University of Aberdeen