Hold the line against tobacco

How should we view e-cigarettes? As a safe and effective way to quit tobacco? (There is some evidence in support of these claims for harm minimisation.) Or as a grave risk to public health because of their potential to renormalise and glamourise smoking, especially among young people? New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg has made his own view clear. In one of his final acts before leaving office, he has banned the smoking of e-cigarettes in indoor public places (doi:10.1136/bmj.f7677).

Bloomberg’s track record on public health has been extraordinary. Although his critics charge him with failing to tackle New York’s rampant social inequalities, …