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E-cigarettes are, on balance, a safe option and should become part of pharmacy smoking cessation programmes, according to John D'Arcy, managing director of the Numark pharmacy group.

Speaking at OTC Bulletin's conference 'Cutting through the smoke: the way forward for e-cigarettes', Mr D'Arcy argued that, despite the current lack of safety and efficacy evidence for e-cigarettes, pharmacists could not be expected to ignore them when they could play a crucial role in stopping people from smoking.

€As a pharmacist I feel very uncomfortable saying that this is a quality, safety and efficacy issue and we cannot talk about e-cigarettes,€ he said.

€By doing that €“ bearing in mind people want to talk about them and education is key to tackling smoking €“ I can't engage with half of my customer base. I get the issues about quality and safety, but I don't get why I cannot engage with half my customer base,€ D'Arcy said, although he admitted €it's a difficult dilemma€.

No science behind e-cigs, says RPS

Despite Mr D'Arcy's call for e-cigarettes to be made part of smoking cessation strategies, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society remains convinced that without clear evidence, e-cigarettes should not be sold in pharmacies.

Howard Duff, director for England at the RPS, told the conference that if pharmacists stocked and sold e-cigarettes, there was a €risk of misleading patients into believing that these were approved products that had been through a regulatory process€.

However €they are not medicines and there is no science behind their use,€ Mr Duff insisted. €There are licensed alternatives [to e-cigarettes], so we must support these.€

We have to be satisfied that e-cigarettes better support patients' needs, he continued, €but... the evidence base has not caught up with their use€.

Mr D'Arcy pointed out that 60 per cent of community pharmacies already stocked e-cigarettes. While many pharmacists remained opposed to the devices, he added, Numark recognised its members' desire to offer the products.

€They must be a better option than smoking,€ he argued. €By stocking them, pharmacists are recognising the commercial demand, but also the opportunity to attract smokers and start a conversation with them about quitting or cutting down.€

€¢ Reporting by OTC Bulletin