Vaping has been the most successful aid to people quitting smoking over the last five years, a new study has found.
The latest survey from health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) found that 5.6 million adults in the UK use vapes. Of these, a massive 53 per cent said they had stopped smoking, 39 per cent are still smoking and eight per cent have never smoked.
More than half used vapes to quit smoking
Among those who had successfully quit smoking, more than HALF (2.7 million people) said they had used a vape to help them kick the habit.
And of those, a third have since also stopped vaping. The average duration for vaping while giving up smoking was one year.
Vaping has long been regarded as an effective tool for quitting smoking and far less harmful to health, but this new data shows just how many people rely on vapes to help them quit cigarettes.
ASH says that it supports the proposed new Tobacco and Vapes Bill to address high levels of teenage vaping. However, it is urging policy makers to ensure that regulations do not undermine the value of vapes as an aid for those who smoke.
Misperceptions about vaping revealed
The new survey also uncovers high levels of public misperceptions about vaping. It shows that half of adults believe vaping is as or more harmful than smoking - when it is in fact significantly less harmful.
Hazel Cheeseman, deputy chief executive of ASH, said: “Millions of people have used vapes to successfully stop smoking in recent years, increasing healthy life expectancy and improving the nation’s productivity.
“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.
“Smoking is still the country’s biggest preventable killer and vaping is one of many tools needed to help smokers quit if we are to create a smoke-free country for current as well as future generations.
“Government must also communicate more effectively that vaping is less harmful than smoking but not risk free and should only be used as an aid to quitting.”
'Without vapes, many smokers might not quit'
Prof Sanjay Agrawal, Royal College of Physicians special advisor on tobacco and a consultant in respiratory and critical care medicine at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, said: “In the last few years almost all the patients I see who manage to quit smoking do so through vaping and without it I fear many of them would not have.
“Vapes are already being used by stop smoking services and NHS support for smokers but they could be used more widely in our efforts to help the millions still smoking quit.”
Professor Leonie Brose, professor of addictions public health, from King’s College London, said the government urgently needs to tackle the increase in dangerous misperceptions.
She said: “More than half of people who smoke long-term will die prematurely due to smoking.
“Alarmingly, half of those who smoke think vaping is just as harmful or more harmful and almost as many are unaware that nicotine-containing medication is less harmful than smoking. These misperceptions are costing lives and we need continued focus on reducing the harms from smoking.”
Hazel Cheeseman added: “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. We would much rather see people stopping using any form of nicotine long term.”
