Public Health England (PHE) has released a new film showing the devastating harms that come from smoking, and how this can be avoided by switching to an e-cigarette or using another type of quit aid.

The film has been released as part of PHE’s Health Harms campaign, which encourages smokers to attempt to quit this January, by demonstrating the personal harm to health from every single cigarette.

The film features smoking expert Dr Lion Shahab and Dr Rosemary Leonard, visually demonstrating the high levels of cancer-causing chemicals and tar inhaled by an average smoker over a month, compared to not smoking or using an e-cigarette.

The results of the demonstration visually illustrate the stark contrast between the impacts of smoking and vaping. Research estimates that while not risk-free, vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking.

Around 2.5 million adults are using e-cigarettes in England, and they have helped thousands of people successfully quit – but many smokers (44%) either believe that vaping is as harmful as smoking (22%) or don’t know that vaping poses much lower risks to health (22%).

Professor John Newton, Director of Health Improvement at Public Health England, said:

It would be tragic if thousands of smokers who could quit with the help of an e-cigarette are being put off due to false fears about safety. We need to reassure smokers that switching to an e-cigarette would be much less harmful than smoking. This demonstration highlights the devastating harms caused by every cigarette and helps people see that vaping is likely to pose only a fraction of the risk.

We want to encourage more smokers to try and quit completely with the help of an e-cigarette, or by using other nicotine replacement such as patches or gum, as this will significantly improve their chances of success. If you’re trying to stop smoking, our free online personal quit plan will help you find the support that’s right for you.

Dr Lion Shahab, leading smoking cessation academic from University College London, said:

The false belief that vaping is as harmful as smoking could be preventing thousands of smokers from switching to e-cigarettes to help them quit. I hope this illustrative experiment helps people see the huge damage caused by smoking that could be avoided by switching to an e-cigarette.

Research we and others have conducted shows that vaping is much less harmful than smoking and that using e-cigarettes on a long-term basis is relatively safe, similar to using licensed nicotine products, like nicotine patches or gum. Using e-cigarettes or nicotine replacement such as patches or gum will boost your chances of quitting successfully.

Smoking increases the risk of developing more than 50 serious health conditions, including cancer and heart disease, and doubles the risk of dying from a stroke. Of the 6.1 million smokers in England, 6 in 10 want to quit, but many try to quit using willpower alone – or going ‘cold turkey’ – despite this being the least effective method.

The most successful quit attempts use a combination of effective stop smoking support methods. Recent research suggests that smokers who quit with the help of an e-cigarette are less likely to start smoking again.

Public Health England’s personal quit plan is a quick, free and easy-to-use digital tool to help smokers find the right support to help them quit, taking into account how much they smoke, and any quitting support used previously.

Dr Rosemary Leonard, an NHS GP, said:

I wanted to be involved in this experiment because every day I see the devastating impact that smoking has on people’s health, but I rarely get the opportunity to actually show people what is happening inside their bodies when they smoke.

I regularly give patients advice about quitting and when I recommend e-cigarettes, I am often surprised to hear the misconceptions some people have about them. The results of this experiment clearly show that every cigarette you smoke causes tar to enter your body and spreads poison throughout your bloodstream. Vaping is much less harmful than smoking and I really hope this experiment will encourage smokers to make a quit attempt. No matter how old you are, it’s never too late to stop.

To find out more about the range of free support and tools available to help people quit smoking, visit the Smokefree website.

Background

1. The campaign includes a range of downloadable Smokefree films and images.

2. Local smoking prevalence figures and additional local data is contained in PHE’s Tobacco Control Profiles.

Museums and galleries sponsored by the government in the Northern Powerhouse are enjoying a record year in 2018 with visitor numbers topping 5 million for the first time.

Between April and October, there were 5,141,165 visitors across the 9 institutions in the Northern Powerhouse region – an increase of 912,468 (21.5%) on the same period last year.

It’s also the highest number of visitors across these Northern museums and galleries in the Apr-Oct period since comparable records began in 2011-12.

Five museums saw an increase in visitor numbers compared to the same period in 2017-18.

National Museums Liverpool attracted a record-breaking 2,885,842 visitors between April and October, a 39% increase on the same period last year and their best April to October to date.

Tate Liverpool saw visitor numbers up 14.6% to 480,271 – their best April to October for a decade.

Imperial War Museum North in Salford welcomed 210,572 visitors, up 35% on April to October 2017-18 and the best for this period since 2014-15.

More than 537,000 people visited The National Railway Museum in York, an increase of 11% on same period last year.

The Science and Industry Museum in Manchester attracted 433,508 visitors, up 3.6% on the same period last year.

The government is continuing negotiations of a proposed Tourism Sector Deal, to help attract more domestic and overseas visitors and drive major economic growth across the UK.

And £15 million has been invested in cultural regeneration projects across the North to help showcase the region as a great place to live, work, visit and invest in – a key pillar of the government’s Northern Powerhouse strategy.

Minister for the Northern Powerhouse Jake Berry MP, said:

This is more good news for the culture of the North coming on the heels of the Rochdale bells being broadcast to the nation by the BBC on Christmas Eve.

I congratulate the world-class museums and galleries of the Northern Powerhouse for attracting so many visitors with their outstanding exhibitions in 2018.

This government continues to support culture across the North through the Coastal Revival Fund which has provided £4.7 million to revive more than 100 heritage sites around the country and by investing £8 million in new venues for Blackpool and Bradford.

As we look forward to 2019, I’d encourage more people to join the 5 million who have already seen why the North’s rich art, culture and heritage is at the heart of the UK’s history and its future.

Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism, Michael Ellis MP said:

Our museums and galleries are world famous for their outstanding collections and are visited by millions every year.

From the Terracotta Warriors in Liverpool, the Poppies at IWM North and Stephenson’s Rocket at the National Railway Museum, our Northern museums have had an excellent year, which I hope they will build on in 2019.

Laura Pye, Director, National Museums Liverpool, said:

We opened China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors in a wonderful year of culture for Liverpool, which also saw another great Biennial and Tate Liverpool’s 30th birthday. Huge public events such as The Giants have celebrated 10 years since we were the Capital of Culture.

We’re so proud to be part of the fabric of Liverpool’s rich culture and to have delivered the Terracotta Warriors exhibition for our visitors this year. Congratulations to our colleagues across the city on coming together to deliver a fantastic year-round offer and keeping us at the top of the UK’s cultural calendar.

Judith McNicol, Director of the National Railway Museum (part of the Science Museum Group), said:

It’s fantastic to see 2 museums in the Science Museum Group experiencing such positive growth in visitor figures.

At the National Railway Museum this growth can be attributed to a renewed focus on customer service and the presentation of our museum spaces, the launch of popular new exhibitions and our smart new branding. As well as the history of the railways, we’re increasingly telling contemporary stories of innovation and engineering in collaboration with the current rail industry.

We have also seen the benefits of working in partnership with other organisations across the city and beyond. We will continue to work hard to maintain this increase into next year, as we launch the next phase of our ambitious and exciting Vision 2025 master plan which we hope will transform the museum to deliver an even better visitor experience.

Statistics on the number of visits to government sponsored museums and galleries are published every month.

The National Railway Museum in York and The Science and Industry Museum in Manchester are both part of the Science Museum Group.

The Health Harms campaign encourages smokers to quit, by demonstrating the harms to health that come from every cigarette.

Justice Secretary announces more prisoners will get in-cell phones to help maintain the family ties which can cut reoffending by 40%.

More than 5 million people enjoyed the government-sponsored museums and galleries in the Northern Powerhouse between April and October 2018.