If you are on Twitter and follow Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) advocates, no doubt you will have seen this latest press release from ASH UK (Action on Smoking & Health) titled – “Four in ten smokers wrongly believe that vaping is as or more harmful than smoking“.
That is utterly shocking in a supposedly “pro-vaping” country like England.
This has been triggered by the release of results of the ASH UK / YouGov annual e-cigarette use survey.
The survey takes place every spring since 2010 and the results from February / March 2023 have just been published.
Survey Results
Below I quote the main findings summarised on the ASH UK website here plus others which stood out for me.
If you want to read the full results download the PDF here.
Use and awareness of e-cigarettes
- The proportion of the population using e-cigarettes this year is 9.1%, the highest rate ever, equal to 4.7million adults in Great Britain (Table 1).
- 2.7 million (56%) are ex-smokers
- 1.7 million (37%) are current smokers
- 320,000 are never smokers (1.1% of never smokers are current vapers, and 6.7% of current vapers are never smokers)
Why people vape
- The main reasons given by ex-smokers for vaping is to help them quit (31%); to prevent relapse (22%); because they enjoy the experience (14%); and to save money (12%).
- The main reasons given by current smokers for vaping is to cut down on smoking (19%), to try to help them quit (17%) and to prevent relapse (13%).
- The main reasons never-smokers vape is because they enjoy the experience (39%) and just to give it a try (27%).
Devices and products used
- The most commonly used type of e-cigarette device remains a refillable tank system, with 50% of current vapers reporting this type as their main device. (Figure 12).
- However, disposable vapes have become more popular in 2023 (31%), compared with 2022 (15%) and 2021 (2.3%).
- E-cigarettes with replaceable cartridges were used by 17% of vapers.
- Use of disposable vapes has risen particularly quickly among younger adults. (Figure 13). Among 18-24year olds, over half of current e-cigarettes users (57%) use disposables as their main type in 2023.
- The majority of adults currently vaping use nicotine strengths below 13 mg/ml. Only 1.2% of current vapers use e-liquids over the legal limit of 20 mg/ml with 13% saying they don’t know.
- Fruit flavour (47%) was the most popular e-liquid flavour followed by Menthol / Mint (17%). Surprisingly 12% chose tobacco as their favourite flavour – I am stunned!
Perceptions of harm
- Four in ten smokers incorrectly believe vaping is as or more harmful than smoking up from a third last year and one in five in 2019. (Figure 9)
- A third of smokers understand that vaping is less harmful than smoking, but fewer than one in ten that they are a lot less harmful than vaping.
- Ex-smokers who vape (2.9 million) have the most accurate perceptions of harm, with 75% correctly identifying that vaping is less harmful than smoking.
Reasons why smokers haven’t tried using e-cigarettes
1.8 million (27%) of smokers have not yet tried e-cigarettes giving as their main reasons (Figure 7):
- Addiction (20% said they do not want to substitute one addiction for another, while conversely 9.0% said that they are not addicted to smoking and don’t need help to quit).
- Another 14% cited safety concerns; 13% that they do not believe that e-cigarettes could help them quit or cut down; and 8.4% not knowing enough about e-cigarettes.
My Thoughts
In order to help counteract all the negativity towards vaping found in this survey, ASH have produced a factsheet to bust some of the common myths. I will write about this in another article but you can have a peek at it here… “Addressing common myths about vaping“.
Thank you ASH UK for being on the side of true harm reduction. I know some of your policies are not always popular with vapers but at least you see vaping for the benefit of accelerating the decrease in smoking rate. Unlike some of their counterparts – cough – ASH Scotland…
I also love the factsheet and urge any readers to get sharing it!
Responses
The IBVTA (independent British Vape Trade Association) have published a Press Release in response – you can read about it here…
The Science Media Centre has collected the responses of various Health Professionals and I discuss it here…
Related Tweets
Full press release: https://t.co/4hwpkKXayx
Use of e-cigarettes among adults in Great Britain 2023: https://t.co/vCpsuq8iWh— ASH (@AshOrgUK) August 3, 2023
Latest @AshOrgUK report. Pity we don’t have similar from @ASHIreland3 https://t.co/2hUYDy8BqB
— NNA Ireland (@IrelandNna) August 3, 2023
August update on combustible cigarette and nicotine vape (“e-cigarette”) use in Great Britain.
4.7 million adult nicotine vapers
2.7 million of them are ex-smokers (56%)If ecigs are >95% safer, that’s >1 million lives saved.https://t.co/eQiRFlMFYN
— Charles A. Gardner, PhD (@ChaunceyGardner) August 3, 2023
“Among the 2.9 million smokers who have tried vaping but stopped, 44% believe vaping is as harmful or more than smoking up from 25% in 2019.” – Shame on irresponsible media and dangerous vape-deniers who have caused this. https://t.co/YSpnMKEsTK
— Martin C (@NannyFreeState) August 3, 2023
More must be done to help smokers understand that vaping is less risky than tobacco, and an effective quitting aid. @AshOrgUK
‘More than 40% of smokers think vaping is more harmful than cigarettes’https://t.co/i55uazIFRq
— London Tobacco Alliance (@LTA_London) August 3, 2023
Australian media should read this excellent publication. Oz mainstream & medical/health media give vaping haters easy ride as they repeat disinformation while vaping advocates asked ‘when we stopped beating our wife’ type questions https://t.co/7GUbxnzRb4
— Alex Wodak AM #Vote YES (@AlexWodak) August 3, 2023
📣 Around 1.8 million (27%) of smokers in Great Britain have not tried vaping.
These are the main reasons why 👇
Source: @AshOrgUK
🔗https://t.co/IzluY0XzB8 pic.twitter.com/XB9YGtjviM
— UKVIA (@Vaping_Industry) August 3, 2023
