Health committee  At the moment, most people who switch to electronic cigarettes in Britain do so for health reasons, although price is an issue. Price is a huge determinant of tobacco consumption, but it depends on the price of the cheapest tobacco products on the market, not the average. In Britain, our average is very high, but our cheapest products are still very affordable.

Health committee  I would agree with that. Young people will find ways to consume drugs that they shouldn't, whatever we say or do. That's another issue which hasn't really been given a great deal of consideration.

Health committee  I think the debate for us has been, and continues.... I'm presenting my overview and my opinions, but I don't speak for the United Kingdom; I speak for me. There have been many lines in it. One is that addiction is wrong, and as you suggest, that argument is often heard over coffee.

Health committee  As you suggested earlier, I think banning anything, and particularly anything that's addictive, is a very dangerous route to tread. But what I would like to think is that over the next coming years, in a decade or so, we will see tobacco cigarettes priced out of affordability for the great majority of people, and made much less available.

Health committee  Canada has indeed brought in tobacco control policies that are the envy of the world. You and one or two other places are beacons of achievement in reducing smoking prevalence. We aspire to that. In Britain we have a complete smoke-free policy for all enclosed public places and workplaces.

Health committee  The tobacco products directive was published earlier this year. To find it you can just search online for the European Union's tobacco products directive. Dr. Peruga might be more familiar with the chapter and verse of it. I can't remember what the upper limit on nicotine content was, but it was extremely low.

Health committee  If I respond to that first, I think something very similar.... It's difficult, because as I've already argued, I would prefer that teenagers experimented with electronic cigarettes than real cigarettes. At the same time, I think we have to have restrictions on sales below the age of 18.

Health committee  Could I comment on that? I agree with Dr. Peruga that none of us would want our own children or anybody else's children to be using nicotine as primary users, as new users, but I don't know what the prevalence of smoking in young people is in Canada. In my country, by the time people reach the age of 24, 40% have been smokers and about 25% are regular smokers.

Health committee  I think the answer to that question really depends on what your target is. If your target is stopping the tobacco industry from profiting any further, then you might take that move. If your target is to stop people smoking cigarettes, then we need to look at the products, not who makes them.

Health committee  Well, I would say that your son is not addicted to two products. He's added to one thing, which is nicotine, and he's finding it from wherever he can get it, so the more alternative sources of nicotine there are out there for him, the better. Being a smoker is like being trapped in a nightclub when a fire breaks out.

Health committee  I can start with an answer to that if you would like.

Health committee  The evidence in clinical trial evidence is that nicotine is not particularly hazardous. It's not associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. It does things to the human body that are probably on a par with caffeine. The best long-term evidence on the hazards of long-term nicotine use without combustion is the evidence from exclusive users of smokeless tobacco in Sweden, who do have a possible increased risk of esophageal cancer and cancer of the pancreas, though those things may well be due to nitrosamines in tobacco that they're swallowing.

Health committee  Well that's hard to say because it's a rolling survey of a couple thousand people. There is a separate survey by Action on Smoking and Health, published in the middle of this year, which came up with a similar figure that about two million, or one in five, smokers are using electronic cigarettes occasionally, and of those about 700,000, or just over one third, were using electronic cigarettes exclusively as a substitute for cigarettes.

Health committee  I wouldn't completely set them aside. I think one area that I would disagree with my colleague on here is that the risks of electronic cigarettes are unknown and will vary from product to product. Poor quality products burn or heat the nicotine less effectively and less thoroughly and produce more toxins than others, but with a good quality product the level of risk, although unknown, is in an order or two orders of magnitude lower than that of inhaling cigarette smoke.

Health committee  Sorry, the first question was what?