Further to my previous post, the BBC has the ASH e-cig survey here:
E-cigarette users in UK have 'tripled' since 2010
My comments are reported as follows:
Simon Clark, director of Forest, a group that supports smokers, said it welcomed the rise of e-cigarettes and was glad people had a choice of what to smoke.
But he suggested that most smokers using e-cigarettes were experimenting with them rather than using them to give up smoking altogether.
"We haven't seen a significant fall in smokers. Most smokers still find electronic cigarettes quite basic and it will take a few more years for the technology to improve."
The Scotsman covers the poll (from a Scottish angle) here:
It also includes a short quote from me. My full response was:
"The increasing popularity of e-cigarettes is not surprising because for the first time we have a nicotine delivery system that mimics the act of smoking.
"They are a useful aid for smokers who wish to cut down or quit but they also provide an alternative to cigarettes in places where smoking is forbidden.
"There has been a lot of scaremongering about e-cigarettes but campaigners have to wean themselves off the idea that nicotine is bad. It can be addictive but it's no more harmful than caffeine.
"Government must resist the temptation to over-regulate e-cigarettes because there is no evidence they are harmful to the user or anyone else.
"Banning e-cigarettes in non-smoking environments makes no sense because the product is very different to a real cigarette. There's no combustion, no smoke, and no evidence that vaping encourages anyone to start smoking."
Charles Hamshaw-Thomas, legal and corporate affairs director of E-Lites, is also quoted in one or two newspapers, including the Guardian, but let's not be in any doubt who's driving this story, and why.
I'll return to this subject later.