Abstract

We are pleased to announce that the 2016 Behaviour and Health Research Unit (BHRU) annual lecture, in association with the Centre for Science and Policy, will be given by Linda Bauld, Professor of Health Policy, Director of the Institute for Social Marketing, and Dean of Research at the University of Stirling. Linda is also Deputy Director of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies and serves as Cancer Research UK’s cancer prevention champion (the CRUK /BUPA Chair in Behavioural Research for Cancer Prevention). Linda is a former scientific adviser on tobacco control to the UK government and currently chairs a number of policy and research committees in Scotland and England. With a background in applied policy research, Linda’s current research focuses on the evaluation of public health interventions. Linda has also conducted studies on drug and alcohol use, inequalities in health and, most notably, on tobacco control and smoking cessation.

This lecture will outline what we know about who uses e-cigarettes and for what purpose, summarise current evidence on their effectiveness for smoking cessation, and discuss their safety – particularly when compared with tobacco and their uptake by young people and never-smokers.

Electronic cigarettes were first patented in China in 2004 and became available in the UK from 2010/11. Since then, their popularity has grown and there are now more than 2.6 million e-cigarette users (vapers) in the UK. They have become the most popular aid to stopping smoking, and are more widely used than licensed medications and existing services. However, e-cigarettes remain controversial and the evidence on their benefits and harms is contested. Professor Bauld will describe the current regulatory framework for these devices and how this will change following the introduction of the EU Tobacco Products Directive from 2016. Future priorities and opportunities for research on e-cigarettes will also be explored.

To register for the talk click here