Puff of e-smoke

In your article, “Call for ban on e-cigarettes in public places” (14 March), you quoted the British Medical Association Scotland and Scottish public health minister Michael Matheson.

Action on Smoking and Health and the American Cancer Society have shown that e-cigarettes are not attractive to young people and are not used as a gateway to smoking.

Cigarettes – not e-cigarettes –are the gateway to smoking.

E-cigarettes are an adult product, and we therefore support calls for a ban on sales to under-18s.

However, it is ludicrous to propose that they be sold only alongside nicotine replacement therapies. E-cigarettes are a viable alternative to cigarettes and should be sold anywhere cigarettes are sold.

The BBC found that 62 per cent of the public do not want e-cigarettes banned in public and recent research concluded that: “The effects of e-cigarette use on bystanders are minimal compared with conventional cigarettes.”

Katie Knight

Save E-Cigs

Rydal Road

Lancaster