Electronic cigarettes are around 95 percent less harmful than tobacco and should be promoted as a tool to help smokers quit, according to a study by an agency of Britain's Department of Health. E-cigarettes, tobacco-free devices people use to inhale nicotine-laced vapor, have surged in popularity on both sides of the Atlantic but health organizations have so far been wary of advocating them as a safer alternative to tobacco and governments from California to India have tried to introduce bills to regulate their use more strictly.