COUNCILLORS and medical professionals have backed plans to partially support e-cigarettes as a quit smoking aid.

Previously St Helens Council have not endorsed e-cigarettes as a quit aid due to conflicting evidence and a lack of regulation.

At present, e-cigarettes are not regulated for medicine use, such as Nicotine Replacement Therapy.

The council’s current e-cigarette policy, which has not been reviewed since 2013, was discussed at the People’s Board this week.

Sue Forster, the council’s director of public health, said Public Health England, due to the frequency of new research evidence, is “constantly” changing its position on e-cigarettes.

Ms Forster acknowledged that while e-cigarettes have been used to quit smoking, it is “not without risk”.

However, she said small studies have been published that show e-cigarettes are being used, particularly in the most deprived areas, in helping people quit smoking.

“Smoking is still one of the biggest preventable causes of death in the country and St Helens, despite prevalence going down,” she said.

“I think we need to recognise that is something we can do something around.”

Ms Forster said there are “big health inequalities” with high smoking prevalence in deprived areas in St Helens.

As previously reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, smoking rates in St Helens is highest in the two most deprived areas, Parr (28 per cent) and Town Centre (33 per cent), based on Merseyside Fire and Rescue data.

Between 2015 and 2017, Town Centre had the highest rate of early deaths due to respiratory diseases for males (141.2 per 100,000), while Parr had the highest rate for females (181.5 per 100,000).

Ms Forster said: “What we really want to do is tackle smoking in some of our most deprived areas, that’s our main aim.

“But we want to, at the same time, not normalise e-cigarettes as vaping and do not want to encourage young people to take up e-cigarettes because we do not know the long-term risks.”

A council report on e-cigarettes proposed to agree that vaping will not be normalised or promoted by partners in any way other than as an aid to quitting cigarettes.

Another was to agree to review emerging evidence on e-cigarettes, particularly around take-up and use by children and young people.

Ms Forster said: “We feel that normalising e-cigarettes when we don’t know what the long-term risks are is the wrong thing to do.

“We are also quite concerned about people taking up e-cigarettes when we don’t know the long-term impact and whether that might go on to smoking.

“We do not want people to smoke so we only want to use it as a quit aid.”

Council leader Derek Long said the implications of smoking is a “clear and imminent threat”.

Cllr Long, who is also chairman of the People's Board, said: “This strikes me, if it encourages people to quit from what is manifestly and very clearly a huge danger and threat to their health – that’s positive.”

Kevin Hardy, consultant physician and medical director at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, expressed concerns about a recommendation in the report to work with e-cigarette companies.

The council proposed to work with businesses to develop ways to use e-cigarettes as a quit aid within the current smoking population.

Dr David Reade, chairman of the St Helens GP Federation, also said he had concerns about getting “too close” to some of the manufacturers.

“A lack of regulation does concern me,” Dr Reade said.

“Are we setting a precedent here that we are going to recommend products that aren’t regulated?

“I feel rather uncomfortable with doing that.”

Ms Forster said there is evidence that some local authorities have been able to successfully work with e-cigarette companies, albeit ones that are not sponsored by tobacco companies.

She also said e-cigarette company Totally Wicked, one of St Helens rugby league club’s sponsors, has approached the council on a number of occasions to work with them on this issue.

Ms Forster added that the council is pushing Public Health England in getting a regulated product, which would be the best way for the council to move forward.

Due to the concerns raised, the board agreed it would not work with e-cigarette companies for now.

Ms Forster said the council will work with people who are already using e-cigarettes for their own personal use as a quit aid.

Members also agreed that, if the council receives any offers from e-cigarette companies and further evidence comes to light then it will bring the decision back to People’s Board.

The council also agreed to maintain policy that vaping is prohibited wherever smoking is prohibited, despite some concerns from Sally Yeoman, chief executive of Halton and St Helens VCA, who said this could have wider implications for St Helens businesses.

Ms Forster said it will work closely with businesses and trading standards and added that the authority cannot enforce the action, only recommend it.

The Peoples’ Board agreed the recommendations in the report.