NEWS
PUBLIC
HEALTH
ENGLAND
VAPING
REPORT
R
unning to 113 pages it addresses one of the most
pressing and controversial issues in public health
at the moment the twin topics of the harm caused
by smoking traditional cigarettes and the potential
benefits of switching to vaping instead.
It points out what might seem like an obvious, but is
nevertheless a very important point to make when it comes to
public health: “e-cigarettes do not contain tobacco, do not create
smoke and do not rely on combustion.”
In the decade since e-cigarettes first hit the UK market around
5% of the population now use them and the overwhelming
majority of those are former smokers and recent former
smokers.
Regular use of e-cigarettes by members of the population who
have never smoked is ‘rare’ according to the report’s findings.
Specifically the report found that:
Around one in 20 adults in England (and Great Britain) use
electronic cigarettes and they are almost exclusively smokers
(~60%) or ex-smokers (~40%).
Only a tiny number of people who have never smoked use
e-cigarettes - around 0.2% of all vapers.
Overall, the adult and youth data suggest that, despite some
experimentation with electronic cigarettes amongst those who
have never smoked, electronic cigarettes are attracting few
people who have never smoked into regular use.
Since electronic cigarettes were introduced to the market,
cigarette smoking among adults and youth has declined. In
adults, overall nicotine use has also declined (not assessed for
youth).
These findings, to date, suggest that the advent of electronic
cigarettes is not undermining, and may even be contributing to,
the long-term decline in cigarette smoking.
The report says there are still more than eight million smokers in
England and says: “For those who continue to smoke regularly,
much of their lives will be of lower quality and spent in poorer
10 WINTER EDITION VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE