IS not Stoptober supposed to be the time when we encourage smokers to quit? One would hardly think so when reading Dr Zak Uddin’s article (Echo, Oct 14). It seems to me that his opinion of e-cigarettes is as off-putting as that of a pharma-executive counting his profits.

He thinks the claim that e-cigarettes are 95% safer than tobacco cigarettes is “bold”, but a little research would have informed him that it is a minimum benefit. Then he quotes the National Institute of Clinical Excellence’s statement that there is “little evidence of long-term benefits or harms” of e-cigarettes.

As this is a meaningless statement, I wonder why he chose to repeat it?

Dr Uddin tells us that nicotine is a chemical, but isn’t everything on the planet? He unearths a study showing that giving drugs to people who have never used them before causes a slight heart murmur – well who’d have thought it?

Perhaps the strangest thing in the whole article is that after telling us that e-cigs are used in 50 per cent of all quit attempts and that successful quit attempts are at an all-time high, he advises smokers not to use them! Use the NHS, he tells them. Use the approved methods of quitting before trying e-cigs, he advises. Is Dr Uddin is the only person in the country not to know that those methods have 94 per cent failure rate?

I do not know why the Echo would even consider printing such a depressing and negative article but to any smokers who read it who have not committed suicide, I would strongly recommend spending a few hours in your local vape shop.

Consult the professionals who know what they are talking about and never ever take any notice of amateurs who know nothing about the subject.

Tom Teasdale, Stockton