A new study has provided further evidence that vaping is an effective way to quit smoking. The study, conducted and concluded at the University of East Anglia, concluded that e-cigarettes help smokers quit even if they don’t intend to.
Researchers at the Norwich School of Medicine, a faculty of the University of East Anglia, have produced the results of a new study that shows the effectiveness of vaping products in helping people quit smoking (1). Although the study was small, with only 40 participants, it took into account the subjects’ history of vaping and smoking. So it can be said that it provides a fairly detailed view of the harm reduction effectiveness of vaping.
The study’s finding that vaping is effective is not surprising, because unlike traditional forms of NRT, vaping has many of the characteristics of smoking that smokers find appealing. Professor Caitlin Notley, who led the study, said e-cigarettes give smokers “many of the practical and psychological basics of smoking.” Traditional forms of NRT lack the usual behaviours and social groups that are common to them, as you’d expect, and smoking areas are often very lively.
Most of the study participants were smokers who had tried to quit but had not succeeded until they tried vaping. However, Dr. Notley also noted that 17% of them had never intended to quit. She described them as “accidental quitters,” who had tried vaping out of curiosity or because a friend had invited them to try it.
Ms Notley concluded that many smokers enjoy vaping and use it as an alternative to smoking. Vaping is not only appealing but also much more convenient than smoking.
Anti-nicotine groups immediately launched a counter-attack against the study, saying that e-cigarettes are dangerous because they contain PG and other unidentified substances. They also deliberately tried to revive the path argument. However, Professor Notley remained steadfast that “vaping is a long-term alternative to smoking and has a certain harm reduction effect.”
(1) Research published in the health journal: https://harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12954-018-0237-7
