{"id":39631,"date":"2026-07-15T09:18:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T09:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/?p=39631"},"modified":"2026-07-15T09:19:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T09:19:05","slug":"one-in-five-trying-to-quit-vaping-used-cigarettes-survey-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/post\/one-in-five-trying-to-quit-vaping-used-cigarettes-survey-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"One in five trying to quit vaping used cigarettes, survey finds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Nearly one in five adults who tried to quit vaping with a specific method used cigarettes, new figures show, raising concerns that confusion over relative risk may be steering some people towards the more harmful product.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The finding comes from Action on Smoking and Health\u2019s 2026 Smokefree GB survey<\/a>, conducted online by YouGov among 13,259 adults between February and March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among 940 people who had ever vaped and had tried to stop using a particular method, 19 per cent said they had used cigarettes as a quitting aid. Smoking was the second most common named method, behind nicotine replacement therapy, such as patches or gum, which was used by 31 per cent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Help from a GP, pharmacy or stop-vaping service was used by nine per cent, while seven per cent used an app and the same proportion tried prescribed medication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around three-quarters of people who had ever vaped had attempted to stop, compared with 36 per cent of current vapers. Most who tried to quit, 63 per cent, did so without using a particular method. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Risk perceptions linked to cigarette use<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The likelihood of using cigarettes varied sharply according to what respondents believed about the relative risks of smoking and vaping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among people who thought vaping was more harmful than smoking, 33 per cent had used cigarettes in an attempt to quit vaping. That compared with 20 per cent among those who considered the products equally harmful and 14 per cent among those who understood that vaping was less harmful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey shows an association between people\u2019s beliefs and their choices, but does not establish that misconceptions directly caused them to use cigarettes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s worrying that public perceptions of vaping are now so far out of step with the evidence,\u201d said Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of ASH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor smokers, these misconceptions have real consequences. If someone believes vaping is as harmful as smoking, they\u2019re less likely to use it to quit smoking and more likely to stop vaping and return to cigarettes. Both of those outcomes are far worse for their health.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wider survey found that 54 per cent of adults and 52 per cent of current smokers believed vaping was at least as harmful as smoking. Among smokers who had never tried vaping, the figure rose to 61 per cent. Fewer than three in 10 smokers correctly identified vaping as less harmful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A decade ago, around a quarter of adults considered vaping equally or more harmful than cigarettes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millions have used vapes to stop smoking<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The findings come alongside evidence that vaping has played a substantial role in helping adults move away from cigarettes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 5.5 million adults in Great Britain currently vape, including an estimated 3.3 million former smokers. Among adults who stopped smoking during the past five years, 58 per cent said they used a vape in their quit attempt, representing an estimated 2.5 million people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daily vaping has now overtaken daily smoking among British adults. The proportion vaping every day rose from 4.5 per cent in 2020 to 7.8 per cent in 2026, while daily smoking fell from 9.7 per cent to 6.6 per cent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major evidence review<\/a> led by King\u2019s College London concluded that vaping exposes users to substantially fewer harmful substances than smoking and poses only a small fraction of the risks in the short and medium term. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers stressed that vaping is not risk-free, particularly for children and people who have never smoked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

New vape restrictions under consideration<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The results arrive as the UK government considers further controls under the Tobacco and Vapes Act<\/a>, which became law in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A UK-wide consultation launched on 10 July proposes plain vape packaging, limits on flavour descriptions, restrictions on device colours and branding, and rules keeping products out of sight in shops. The government says the measures are intended to reduce vaping\u2019s appeal to children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cancer Research UK supports regulation<\/a> aimed at reducing uptake among children and non-smokers, while maintaining vaping\u2019s role for adults trying to stop smoking. The charity says current evidence shows legal vapes are far less harmful than cigarettes and can help people quit, although their long-term effects remain uncertain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheeseman said regulation needed to make vaping less visible and attractive to children without obscuring the difference between vaping and smoking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we get that balance wrong, we risk slowing progress on reducing smoking, which remains the leading cause of preventable death,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly one in five adults who tried to quit vaping with a specific method used cigarettes, new figures show, raising concerns that confusion over relative risk may be steering some people towards the more harmful product. The finding comes from Action on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":990002,"featured_media":39632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[257],"tags":[186],"slider":[],"class_list":["post-39631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-nicotine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/990002"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39631"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39639,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39631\/revisions\/39639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39631"},{"taxonomy":"slider","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/slider?post=39631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}