Monday, November 20, 2017
Vaping helps reverse smoking harm - asthma expert
Smokers with asthma or chronic obstructive respiratory disease have the most to gain from switching to vaping, says
international asthma specialist Professor Riccardo Polosa, who is speaking at Massey University next week.
Professor Polosa, from the University of Catania in Italy, is visiting Massey’s Auckland and Wellington campuses, where
he will present on his research trialling e-cigarettes with smokers who have chronic respiratory illnesses. He has also
conducted a trial on people with schizophrenia switching from smoking tobacco to vaping.
“Our studies, in which we follow up participants over time to measure the health effects of vaping, have shown that some
of the damage from smoking is reversed,” Professor Polosa says. “We have been able to substantiate the risk of vaping is
much less than the risks to health caused by continued smoking.”
He is speaking as a guest of Massey University Associate Professor Marewa Glover – a vaping and tobacco researcher from
the School of Health Sciences. Dr Glover shares Professor Polosa’s strong views about government departments and health
advocacy groups that continue to reject and downplay the role vaping can play in reducing the tobacco death rate.
“The Ministry of Health recently said that people wanting to use an electronic cigarette to help them quit smoking
should be supported to do so by health workers, but some health groups are refusing to back down on their anti-vaping
stance,” she says.
“It is shocking that health professionals would engage in such scaremongering to mislead the public about the much lower
relative risk of vaping compared with continuing to smoke.”
Dr Glover says this is an opportunity for people to hear from one of the world’s leading experts in smoking cessation
and the use of e-cigarettes for quitting. “His visit is timely given the ongoing confusion over the safety profile of
e-cigarettes. Health workers interested in smoking cessation, and particularly in assisting people with asthma, chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease and schizophrenia to quit smoking, will find his talk invaluable.”
Professor Polosa will deliver his talks, which are open to the public, in Auckland and Wellington next week.
Event details:
Massey University Auckland - East Precinct Sir Neil Waters Lecture Theatre (SNW100)
12pm-1.30pm – Tuesday November 28
Massey University Wellington - LT200 6C15
10am-12pm – Wednesday November 29
BIOGRAPHY: Professor Riccardo Polosa is director of the Institute for Internal and Emergency Medicine of the University of Catania
Teaching Hospital in Italy. He is also in charge of the University’s Centre for Tobacco Research and Honorary Professor
of Medicine at Southampton University in the United Kingdom. Professor Polosa has authored more than 350 peer reviewed
articles and books mainly covering respiratory medicine, clinical immunology and tobacco addiction. He and his research
team have led several clinical trials investigating the efficacy and effects of switching from tobacco smoking to vaping
e-cigarettes among people with asthma, COPD and people with schizophrenia. He is a leading expert in smoking cessation
treatments and the treatment of asthma more generally. Professor Polosa is Convenor for the European Working Group on
“Requirements and test methods for emissions of electronic cigarettes”, within the European Committee for
Standardization and he also serves as Chief Scientific Advisor for Lega Italiana Anti Fumo, the Italian Anti-Smoking
League.