E-cigarette users have tripled to two million because 2012, review finds

An e-cigarette user. In accordance to the survey, in 2010, only 2.7% of smokers stated they utilised electronic cigarettes on a typical basis, but now that is up to 17.seven%. Photograph: Tim Ireland/PA

Far more than 2 million folks are believed to use electronic cigarettes in Britain, but almost all are recent smokers or ex-smokers who use the products to stay off tobacco, in accordance to a survey published on Monday.

The anti-tobacco charity Ash (Action on Smoking and Health) says the variety of e-cigarette customers has tripled from 700,000 in 2012. Almost two-thirds of end users are smokers and the other third are ex-smokers, Ash says, although use of the units amid non-smokers is negligible, at only .one%.

Ash’s findings are released on the day that a consultation on e-cigarette marketing closes. The Advertising Requirements Authority has been examining worries, notably between public well being physicians, that advertising encourages non-smokers and specifically youngsters to consider them, and that they will graduate to ordinary cigarettes.

But Ash’s survey, carried out by YouGov, suggests this is not occurring and that men and women are using e-cigarettes to kick their tobacco habit as an alternative.

“The dramatic rise in the use of electronic cigarettes over the previous four years suggests that smokers are increasingly turning to these devices to support them cut down or quit smoking. Drastically, usage among non-smokers stays negligible,” said Deborah Arnott, Ash’s chief executive.

“While it is essential to manage the advertising of electronic cigarettes to make certain kids and non-smokers are not getting targeted, there is no proof from our analysis that e-cigarettes are acting as a gateway into smoking.”

YouGov surveyed a lot more than twelve,000 men and women, with Ash extrapolating the complete number of e-cigarette users in the population from the findings.

In a related YouGov survey in 2010, eight.2% of recent or ex-smokers had experimented with e-cigarettes, but now half of them have (51.seven%). In 2010, only 2.seven% explained they utilised them on a regular basis, but now that is up to 17.7%.

Between recent e-cigarette users, the main reason provided by ex-smokers was “to aid me end smoking completely” (71%) and “to support me keep off tobacco” (48%). The principal explanation given by present smokers was to “aid me minimize the amount of tobacco I smoke, but not cease completely” (48%) followed by “to save funds compared with smoking tobacco” (37%).

A study from University College London earlier this month had comparable findings. The Smoking Toolkit Research carried out in England located that e-cigarettes have been taking more than from nicotine gum and patches as an assist to giving up smoking.

The leader of that study, Professor Robert West, stated: “Regardless of claims that use of electronic cigarettes dangers renormalising smoking, we identified no evidence to help this see. On the contrary, electronic cigarettes might be assisting to reduce smoking as a lot more folks use them as an aid to quitting.”

The consultation is looking at regardless of whether marketing guidelines require to be modified for e-cigarettes. Some public health doctors argue that marketing could normalise ordinary cigarettes, which have otherwise turn into pariah merchandise.

The e-cigarette business explained the Ash survey showed that public wellness opponents, such as the British Health care Association, have been incorrect to oppose the devices as determinedly as they do. “Review after examine is showing that scaremongering that e-cigarettes are luring folks into tobacco is baseless nonsense. The reverse is going on – smokers are switching into e-cigarettes as the way to minimize the harm from tobacco,” explained Charles Hamshaw-Thomas, legal and corporate affairs director of E-Lites.

E-cigarette users have tripled to two million because 2012, review finds