In northern England, two of the largest hospitals in the Birmingham area have banned smoking because–to quote medical director Dr. David Carruthers of the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals N.H.S Trust–“smoking kills.”
It is this “simple truth,” Dr. Carruthers says, that prevents the hospital’s overseer from supporting smoking on their sites, in shelters, or even inside of cars located on the premises.
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals N.H.S. Trust oversees the two hospitals where vape shops recently opened in the aftermath of the smoking ban that was introduced last week.
Both of the vape shops are operated by UK e-cigarette and e-liquid supplier Ecigwizard, which also sells vaping products online. Ecigwizard has been in business for over eight years and is one of the leading e-cig companies in the U.K., according to a statement on the company’s website.
As a result of the smoking ban, smokers who are caught smoking on the grounds of the two hospitals now face a 50 pound fine, which translates to approximately $62 US dollars. But while smoking is now banned, e-cigarette use is allowed, with the exception of in or near doorways.
The smoking shelters located at the grounds of the hospitals have been converted to vaping shelters with their once prominently placed ashtrays completely removed.
The turn marks a major policy change for the hospitals involved and comes on the heels of Public Health England’s government-mandated electronic cigarette evidence review. According to the findings of the P.H.E. evidence review, which was carried about independent experts, vaping e-cigarettes is likely 95% less harmful than smoking cigarettes.
Public Health England, a public health body in the U.K., recommended last year that N.H.S. patients be allowed to use their e-cigs indoors and not just indoors, but even in their hospital beds. While the advice is notably controversial, the public healthcare body’s recommendation is targeted at smokers who are struggling to quit, which includes pregnant women. Given the findings of P.H.E.’s e-cigarette evidence review, officials have urged hospitals to promote vape use among smokers. This includes transforming smoking shelters into vaping shelters, which are also known as vaping lounges. And as we can see, this is a suggestion that at least some hospitals in the U.K. have followed.
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, regulators in the United States have met the e-cigarette with increasing criticism. In San Francisco where Juul Labs, makers of what is currently the most popular e-cig in the U.S., is headquartered, city legislators have moved to ban the sale of e-cigarettes. Shortly after, the city of Livermore passed similar legislation to effectively ban the sale of e-cigarettes, making it the second city in California to ban e-cigarette sales.
In Australia, a country that has attempted to combat cigarette use through rising costs to consumers and other efforts, vaping is met with staunch resistance from regulators who have imposed a ban on vaping nicotine. However, this has not prevented the sale of nicotine vaping products, including nicotine e-liquid, to customers in Australia, as import laws allow for such products to be legally imported into the country for personal use. As a result, overseas vape companies like Vaper Empire, one of Australia’s leading e-cig companies that has been supplying vaping products to customers in Australia for over seven years, have set up shop online to serve Australian customers through their online vape stores.
In stark contrast to their U.S. and Australian counterparts, public health officials in Britain have embraced e-cigarettes as effective smoking cessations, encouraging their use for smokers who are struggling to quit. According to P.H.E.’s independent e-cigarette report, switching from smoking to vaping offers “substantial health benefits” to current smokers.
