According to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), the number of vapers in the UK has reached 3.6 million, half the number of current smokers. The data shows that the majority of vapers are ex-smokers, and the main reason they use e-cigarettes is to quit smoking.
The news comes as the US continues to investigate a series of serious lung illnesses linked to vaping. Meanwhile, India has said it will ban e-cigarettes because they pose a health risk.
E-cigarettes allow users to inhale nicotine in a vapour rather than smoke. Anti-smoking charity ASH has been tracking their use since 2012. The latest reports suggest that vaping helped an additional 70,000 people quit smoking in 2017.
The number of vapers in the UK increased from 700,000 to 3.6 million between 2012 and 2019, and of these:
54% have quit smoking.
40% use both.
6% never smoked.
“It is vital that vapers quit smoking completely, otherwise they will still be at risk of exposure to serious diseases from smoking,” Professor Ann McNeill commented on the e-cigarette briefing for PHE.
“Vapes are not harmless, but they are less harmful than cigarettes, which kill nearly 100,000 people a year in the UK,” she added.
The figures come amid a fierce attack on e-cigarettes.
The CDC is still investigating the cause of a mysterious lung disease linked to vaping that has killed eight people and hospitalized more than 500. But most of those patients had used THC-containing vape juice.
Last year there was a similar case in the UK, published in the British Medical Journal, a woman suffered from lipoid pneumonia and the only explanation doctors could give was vaping.
CDC advises people to consider limiting their use of e-cigarettes and vaping products.
The situation in the US has prompted President Donald Trump to ban flavoured vape products and Walmart to stop selling them altogether. Meanwhile, India has imposed a ban that includes a three-year prison sentence for violators.
Public health officials in the UK maintain that vaping is 95% safer than smoking.
“Vapers should not be pushed towards cigarettes by the news of vaping illnesses in the US,” said Deborah Arnott, ASH chief executive. “And smokers should not continue to rely on cigarettes, but switch to vaping.”
“Of course, it's important to only use legal vape products from reputable stores and stay away from products of unknown origin.”
