Anti-tobacco charity Action on Smoking & Health (ASH) has urged legislators to “not undermine the value of vapes” as a quitting tool in coming regulations, as it publishes new research showing nearly three million people in Britain have quit smoking with a vape in the past five years.
Despite having long campaigned against the rise of youth use of vapes and disposables – last year lobbying for an excise tax of £4 per disposable vape – the charity’s deputy CEO Hazel Cheeseman said: “Tougher vape regulations are urgently needed, but it is important they are calibrated to address youth vaping while not deterring use of vapes as quitting aids.”
The ASH data finds that vapes have been the most popular aid to quitting among those who have successfully stopped smoking in the UK over the past five years.
Among all those who stopped smoking in the past five years, just over half reported they used a vape to quit, equating to 2.7 million people. Of those, a third have also since stopped vaping, with the average duration of their vaping a year.
The latest ASH survey found that overall 5.6 million adults currently vape, 53% who whom have stopped smoking, 39% of whom are still smoking and 8% of whom have never smoked.
At the same time, ASH is calling for a new Tobacco & Vapes Bill to be “reintroduced urgently”. The bill is likely to include a total ban on disposable vapes, with strict restrictions around how vapes can be displayed, packaged and named.
“Millions of people have used vapes to successfully stop smoking in recent years, increasing healthy life expectancy and improving the nation’s productivity,” Cheeseman said. “Tougher vape regulations are urgently needed, but it is important they are calibrated to address youth vaping while not deterring use of vapes as quitting aids.”
The survey also found a growing group of ex-smokers vaping longer term with half vaping for more than three years. Since 2021, there has also been an increase in the numbers of ‘never smokers’ vaping, with an estimated 8% of vapers reporting they have never smoked – around 440,000 people.
“Long-term vaping among people who would otherwise not be smoking should be avoided on a precautionary basis. So, as we develop our regulatory approach, this group must not be forgotten,” Cheeseman said. “We would much rather see people stopping using any form of nicotine long term.”
Experts have broadly welcomed ASH’s findings.
“Given increasing long-term use of e-cigarettes among ex-smokers, they also likely help maintain abstinence, while co-use with cigarettes may encourage further quit attempts among smokers,” said Lion Shahab, professor of health psychology at University College London.
“Overall, this use pattern provides a clear indication that e-cigarettes contribute to the eradication of combustible cigarettes in Great Britain, and public health policy should be aligned with this outcome.”
According to ASH, around one out of every eight people in the UK smokes (12.9%). In the UK, the chance that any one person is a smoker has been declining ever since records began in 1974. The number of cigarettes that smokers smoke has also gone down over time.
A June study by the charity found the proportion of 11 to 17-year-olds smoking once a week or more to be 3.7%. NHS Digital data, meanwhile, finds only 1% of young people are regular smokers, and less than 2% do so even occasionally.
Despite the relative health benefits of quitting smoking for vaping, ASH says half of smokers believe that vaping is just as or more harmful than smoking “when it is in fact much less harmful”.
“We urgently need to tackle the increase in dangerous misperceptions,” said Leonie Brose, professor of addictions & public health at King’s College London. “These misperceptions are costing lives and we need continued focus on reducing the harms from smoking.”
No comments yet