'Vapes remain key tool in helping smokers quit'

Over half of those stopped smoking in past five years had used vapes, a recent survey has found, suggesting that vapes remain a key tool in helping smokers quit.

Of the 5.6 million vapers, about 3 million (53 per cent) are ex-smokers, 2.2 million (39 per cent) are current smokers and 440,000 (8 per cent) are people who have never smoked conventional cigarettes. More than one in ten adult Britons vape which is the highest level ever recorded.

The survey of over 13,000 adults, run by YouGov on behalf of Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), found that half of adults believe vaping to be as harmful or more harmful than smoking tobacco. This is compared with about 8 per cent a decade ago.

Among those who have stopped smoking in the past five years, over half said they had used vapes. As well as being an aid to quitting, there is strong evidence that electronic cigarettes are significantly less harmful than smoking although they are not risk free.

The survey found that over half of those vaping had been doing so for three years or more. This figure was 18 per cent in 2017.

Among adult smokers, the survey found that fears about the health effects of vaping were significant, but not the main barrier to switching. A quarter said that the main reason they were not trying e-cigarettes was because they did not “want to substitute one addiction for another”. Ten per cent said that they did not want to quit.

Hazel Cheeseman, the deputy chief executive of Ash, said that given the proven benefits of vaping as an aid to quitting this was worrying.

“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,” she said.

While expressing concern about people who start vaping without having previously smoked, experts said that vapes remain a key tool in helping smokers quit.

Sanjay Agrawal, the Royal College of Physicians’ special adviser on tobacco, said they had made a huge difference.

“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.”