The UK Government has admitted it doesn’t know how many vapers will return to potentially fatal smoking after the disposable vape ban.
Conservative MP Andrea Leadsom was asked by Adam Afriyie MP in Parliament last week whether she had done a risk assessment on the number of vapers expected to return to smoking if the ban was enforced.
This is considered an essential step by action groups, given that cigarettes are a death sentence to around half of smokers - eight million smokers die globally per year - and vaping is an effective quitting tool.
However, despite nearly a third of adult vapers using disposables, the Government’s impact assessment concluded that the number who might return to vaping is ‘difficult to quantify.’
Recent research led by Dr. Sarah Jackson at University College London revealed that around three million people would be negatively impacted by a disposable vape ban.
This breaks down into “1.2 million people who currently smoke and would benefit from switching to e-cigarettes completely, and a further 744,000 who previously smoked and may be at risk of relapse.”
The researchers said it was important to support disposable vapers to swap to a different kind of vape instead of returning to smoking. They also found that disposable vapes are more commonly used by those in lower socio-economic classes and those with mental health conditions.
The research concludes: “While banning disposables might seem like a straightforward solution to reduce youth vaping, it could have substantial unintended consequences for people who smoke.”
Meanwhile a recent survey conducted by Evapo showed as many as two thirds of vapers may return to cigarettes if the Government restricts vape flavours.
The poll showed that the vast majority (88 per cent) of vapers were smokers before making the switch, emphasising vaping's crucial role in their journey towards becoming smoke free.
When asked about how a ban on certain flavours would affect their future use of vapes, almost two-thirds of respondents are they would be at risk of going back to smoking.
Alarmingly, 31 per cent indicated they are likely to resume or increase smoking if their preferred vape flavours were banned or restricted, with an additional 30 per cent considering it ‘somewhat likely’.
