UK health agency backs e-cigarettes as a means to kick tobacco habit

British health officials said Wednesday that e-cigarettes are about 95 percent less harmful than smoking and added that they do not serve as a gateway or "route into smoking for children or non-smokers."

"E-cigarettes are not completely risk free but when compared to smoking, evidence shows they carry just a fraction of the harm. The problem is people increasingly think they are at least as harmful and this may be keeping millions of smokers from quitting. Local stop smoking services should look to support e-cigarette users in their journey to quitting completely," said Kevin Fenton, director of Health and Wellbeing at Public Health England.

There's plenty of competing literature about the hot-button issue as vaping, or using e-cigarettes, has been growing in popularity across the globe.