A large study in England has found that smokers trying to quit were substantially more likely to succeed if they used electronic cigarettes than over-the-counter therapies such as nicotine patches or gum. These results offered encouraging but not definitive evidence in the contentious debate about the risks and benefits of these increasingly popular smoking devices.

Researchers interviewed almost 6,000 smokers who had tried to quit on their own without counseling from a health professional. About a fifth of those who said they were using e-cigarettes had stopped smoking at the time of the survey, compared with about a tenth of people who had used patches and gum. “This will not settle the e-cigarette issue by any means,” said Thomas J. Glynn, a researcher at the American Cancer Society, who was not part of the study, “but it is further evidence that, in a real-world context, e-cigarettes can be a useful, although not revolutionary, tool in helping some smokers to stop.” With little regulation, Oklahoma City has become an e-cigarette boom town where “vapers” flock to vapor shops to buy the smoking alternative products, which include nicotine liquids. The multibillion-dollar e-cigarette industry is not regulated, but the Food and Drug Administration is seeking to change that.F.D.A. Will Propose New Regulations for E-Cigarettes

The use of e-cigarettes has risen rapidly across Europe and the United States, and regulators are scrambling to figure out how to respond in the absence of hard evidence about their effects. The debate is particularly fierce in the United States, where some experts say the devices could lure children to start smoking, while others contend that they are the best hope in generations to get smokers to switch to something less dangerous than traditional cigarettes.They also said the study, one of the largest to date, offered valuable insights into the real world experiences of smokers. “The medical model is great for cancer drugs, but it doesn’t really work for this situation because there’s nothing to stop participants in the patches group from just going out and buying an e-cigarette,” Professor West said. He said the database used for the study was financed by Cancer Research UK, a nonprofit group; England’s Department of Health; and several large drug companies that make nicotine replacement therapy, including Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson.

NY Times