The United Kingdom’s government has always kept its residents’ health as its topmost priority. From creating new and specialized governmental bodies dedicated to public healthcare, to constantly introducing new campaigns to increase awareness within the general public, the UK government makes a conscious effort to focus on its citizen’s wellbeing and health. Additionally, the UK government has been the most vocal and the most systematic in introducing new things in its health and wellness sector in comparison to other governments worldwide.
Keeping ahead of the rest of the world yet again, about three weeks ago, the UK government made talks in introducing a new health program informally known as ENDS. The said program aims at smoking cessation for all of its citizens. The government has held a strong stance towards smoking cessation with its previously launched Health Harms campaign aimed at encouraging people to stop smoking and educating them about the health hazards associated with smoking.
Within Health Harms, the government and the PHE made a conscious effort to provide individuals with as many resources and aids as they possibly can to reduce the habit of smoking within citizens, and also launched an app dedicated to the cause called Smokefree. In addition to that, the government has also been advocating the use of vapes and vaping devices as a healthier alternative.
While the government’s advocacy of vaping devices or ENDS was met with a lot of criticism previously, in our view it was actually a good decision. Multiple Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems or ENDS are essentially noncombustible tobacco products which have gained popularity in recent years. ENDS include vapes, vaping pens, vaporizers, and electronic cigarettes. All of these products use an e-liquid which contains different flavors. Vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol and sometimes nicotine as well. The e-liquid gets heated within the vape which creates the aerosol that the user inhales and exhales. ENDS can be manufactured in different handheld designs and can also be produced to look like conventional cigarettes or cigars.
Vaping companies that have been advocating the health benefits of ENDS for a very long time finally feel like they are being heard. A company like V2 stands to benefit from the UK government’s decision to promote ENDS as they have been putting out products and researching their benefits in comparison to conventional smoking and cigarettes for a very long time.
In our opinion, instead of simply campaigning for citizens to quit smoking – as it did previously with Health Harms – the UK government’s new campaign ENDS is taking a much more logical approach towards the issue. Instead of telling the public to stop, the government is now rightly telling them what to use instead of conventional cigarettes that are extremely harmful for their health.
Smoking cessation helps individuals lower the risk of cancer and other associated health diseases. In addition to the usage of ENDS, it is recommended that the government also advocates the usage of counselling, therapy, nicotine-products, nicotine patches, etc. and take a full-frontal approach towards smoking cessation.
Given the rise of health problems in residents of the United Kingdom, it is imperative that the government makes conscious and strong efforts in fighting the dangers associated with smoking and encourage all of its citizens towards smoking cessation. Smoking is a life-threatening habit and if not taken care of on a timely basis, it can ruin the life of the smoker and their family and friends as well. Hence, in our opinion, the UK government has made a great initiative in creating a well-rounded campaign towards smoking cessation. It is the only government in the world to have taken such a well-thought and strong stance against smoking
