HSE bans e-cigarettes from smoke-free campuses

Tobacco control has "gone far enough", according to a new survey by pro-smoking lobby Forest EU

From next week onwards, e-cigarettes cannot be sold or smoked in any HSE building or campus

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The Health Service Executive today announced that it is to ban the use of e-cigarettes in all health service facilities from 1 May. From this date, the use of e-cigarettes will not be permitted in any HSE building or on any HSE ‘tobacco-free campus’.

In a press release, the executive said that as the organisation responsible for promoting health, it has made a commitment that all its campuses will be tobacco-free by 2015. The majority of public hospitals currently operate smoke-free campuses, as do many primary care and administrative facilities.

Dr. Stephanie O’Keeffe, national director, Health and Wellbeing, HSE, said the decision to ban the use and sale of e-cigarettes in HSE facilities followed "a detailed review of their safety and the impact of e-cigarettes on the smoke-free campus policy".

The tobacco-free campus policy was established to "help change social norms around tobacco use and actively encourage and support people to quit smoking".

Dr O’Keeffe added: "The HSE can only recommend safe and effective products and strategies for quitting smoking, and there currently is no conclusive evidence that e-cigarettes are safe for long-term use, or are effective as a smoking cessation aid. While we will be keeping this emerging evidence under review, the e-cigarettes ban is being introduced now because e-cigarettes pose a challenge to smoke-free campus enforcement and come with safety concerns for a healthcare environment."

She stressed that smoking is the single leading cause of illness in Ireland, responsible for a range of respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases and cancers, and for over 5,200 deaths every year. Dr O’Keeffe also said the health services "provide and promote a range of safe and evidence-based services, supports and aids that can help people to quit – in many cases doubling their chances of success," and that the HSE would continue to encourage the use of such supports to help people quit smoking.

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