Smoking numbers hit new low as Britons turn to vaping to help quit cigarettes

The number of smokers in Britain has reached its lowest point since records began in 1974, according to new data, while more than a million people say they are using e-cigarettes to help them quit smoking.

The latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows that 17.2% of adults in the UK smoked in 2015, down from 20.1% in 2010.

Smoking levels are highest in Scotland, at 19.1%, followed by Northern Ireland, where it is 19%, Wales on 18.1% and England on 16.9%. The numbers have been dropping fastest in recent years in Scotland and Wales. Among local authorities, Blackpool is the only one to feature consistently in the 10 heaviest smoking areas between 2012 and 2015. In 2015, 25.3% of adults in Blackpool smoked.

Smoking by country

The data also shows that 2.3 million people were e-cigarette users in England, Scotland and Wales in 2015, about 4% of the population. Their survey also shows that 4 million more people describe themselves as former e-cigarette users. A further 2.6 million say they have tried them but not gone on to use them regularly.

Half of the 2.3 million who were current users of e-cigarettes at the time of the survey said they were doing it to quit smoking. A further 22% said they were vaping because it was less harmful than smoking. Only 10% said they chose to vape because it was cheaper than buying cigarettes. Others – 9% – said they used e-cigarettes mainly because they were permitted indoors.

The figures will bolster the arguments of those who believe e-cigarettes have a major role to play in ending the tobacco epidemic. The issue has been hugely controversial among public health doctors and campaigners, some of whom consider e-cigarettes to be a stalking horse for the tobacco industry which hopes to make smoking acceptable again and has invested in vaping.

e-cigarette users

The World Health Organisation has expressed concern over e-cigarettes, but Public Health England has said vaping may be 95% safer than smoking tobacco.

Half of current smokers say they have tried e-cigarettes, and 14.4% of current smokers also vape.

Some of the statistics suggest that it is often the heavier smokers who turn to e-cigarettes. Those who also vape smoke marginally more cigarettes per day on average than those who do not – 11.8 versus 11.3. Smokers who have given up on e-cigarettes smoke 12.2 per day versus 10.6 among those who have never used an e-cigarette. Smokers who have children at home are also more inclined to use e-cigarettes.

The ONS vaping data is from the opinions and lifestyle survey 2014-15 and relate just to Great Britain. The ONS figures on general smoking trends include northern Ireland.

smoking graphic

Men are more likely to smoke – 19.3% do, compared with 15.3% of women. Smoking is most common in the 25-34 age group, where 23% smoked in 2015. It is least common in the over-65s, among whom 8.8% smoke. But the biggest decline since 2010 has been among the 18-24 year-olds, where it has dropped five percentage points to 20.7% in five years.

Figures for Great Britain also show that smokers have been cutting back on the numbers of cigarettes they consume. Average consumption is down to 11.3 cigarettes per day, the lowest number since 1974.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH said: “The decline in smoking is very encouraging and shows that strong tobacco control measures are working. However, the government can’t leave it to individual smokers to try to quit on their own. If the downward trend is to continue we urgently need a new tobacco control plan for England, and proper funding for public health and for mass media campaigns. That’s essential if the prime minister is to live up to her promise to tackle health and social inequality.”

Smoking numbers hit new low as Britons turn to vaping to help quit cigarettes

Vaping could help prevent ex-smokers piling on the pounds, research suggests

E-cigarettes might help smokers who are quitting keep the pounds off, say researchers, suggesting that vaping could be harnessed in the fight against obesity.

Weight gain is a major concern among smokers looking to quit. On average individuals put on 5kg in the first year they go without cigarettes. Nicotine is known to suppress appetite and increase metabolic rate, among other effects.

While nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) can help to control weight gain and help smokers to quit, researchers have suggested that nicotine-containing e-cigarettes might be a better option.

“People can change their nicotine content, so to quit smoking they might start off on a higher strength e-liquid and then they can taper down really quite gradually in a much more sophisticated way than they can with NRT, which is probably good for weight maintenance and for weight loss,” said co-author Linda Bauld, professor of health policy at the University of Stirling and deputy director of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies. The huge range of e-liquids available, she adds, could also help prevent snacking, particularly given the number of sweet and fruit flavours on offer.

The authors note that a drop in the prevalence of smoking is among the factors that have been linked to increasing rates of obesity, meaning new approaches to manage weight gain could prove valuable.

Published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research by scientists from New Zealand and Stirling, the paper looked at a range of studies exploring the influence of nicotine on the body, as well as the relationships between aroma, taste and flavour and the feeling of fullness, to moot the potential for e-cigarettes in managing weight gain among smokers trying to kick the habit.

The authors suggest that e-cigarettes, with their myriad flavours, could potentially help to tackle cravings for certain foods. What’s more, the study suggests that the physical processes involved in filling an e-cigarette could reduce the urge to eat.

“You are re-filling the e-liquids, you might be mixing your own liquids, you are trying different flavours, you are doing things with your hands that take up time which means maybe you are not reaching for the bowl of M&Ms,” said Bauld.

Despite noting concerns raised by some around the safety of long-term e-cigarette use, Bauld says the research points to the benefits of using nicotine-containing products for smokers planning to quit.

“One of the things this paper says is [that] probably we shouldn’t be so worried about longer-term nicotine use, particularly if it can help people not put on weight – which we know is a bit risk factor for diabetes and a lot of other things,” she said.

But, the authors note, much more research is need. They highlight a number of avenues that should be explored, from trials into the effects of vaping on weight gain among smokers attempting to quit, to the impact of different e-liquids on feelings of fullness.

“We are not suggesting that we should promote e-cigarettes to people who haven’t smoked,” said Bauld. “But for people who are thinking about the best way to stop smoking and are concerned about weight gain, I think what we are suggesting is that e-cigarettes should certainly be considered.”

Paul Aveyard, professor of behavioural medicine at the University of Oxford, said it was “almost certain” that nicotine-containing e-cigarettes would reduce weight gain among smokers attempting to quit. But, he cautioned, the possible benefits of e-cigarettes in managing weight gain among ex-smokers did not mean that they could benefit non smokers’ attempts to lose weight.

What’s more, he added, with some evidence that nicotine could play a role in the development of diabetes, there may be down sides to the use of such devices, even if they do help smokers keep the weight off. “That balance between the two effects is not known,” he said.

Amanda Sandford, from Action on Smoking and Health said: “The risk of putting on weight when quitting smoking is a common concern and can discourage smokers from trying to stop. E-cigarettes are a safer alternative to tobacco and if they can also help people avoid piling on the pounds as well as helping them to stop smoking that is a real bonus.”

Vaping could help prevent ex-smokers piling on the pounds, research suggests

Public Wellness England: vaping safer than smoking - video

Kevin Fenton, director of health and wellbeing at Public Wellness England, explains why the physique has officially recognised that e-cigarettes are better for smokers than tobacco. It says e-cigarettes are 95% much less damaging than their standard rivals this kind of as tobacco cigarettes, and suggests that e-cigarettes be dispensed as a licensed medicine

Public Wellness England: vaping safer than smoking - video

British smokers urged to start vaping by well being officials

Britain’s eight million smokers have been urged to start off ‘vaping’ soon after a government-backed report identified that the electronic gadgets are 20 times much less dangerous than traditional cigarettes.

So far no electronic cigarette has been licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare merchandise Regulatory Company (MHRA) or the National Institute for Overall health and Care Excellence (Nice).

But a new report launched these days by Public Well being England, Kings College London and Queen Mary London, discovered e-cigarettes carry just 5 per cent of the risk of tobacco and must be broadly adopted by smokers.

If each smoker in Britain switched to vaping, all around 75,000 lives a year could be saved, they estimate. The authorities known as for e-cigarettes to be prescribed on the NHS as soon as regulated.

Nagy Memes Szabolcz and Georgia Samuels at Vapefest, Shrewsbury

Nevertheless several scientific studies have identified that the flavours employed in e-cigarettes may result in respiratory issues and damage the immune technique while analysis published on Tuesday by the University of Southern California advised they could encourage youngsters to take up smoking.

“E-cigarettes are not completely threat totally free but when compared to smoking , evidence displays they carry just a fraction of the harm,” mentioned Professor Kevin Fenton, Director of Well being and Well-getting, at PHE.

“We’re encouraging smokers to look at e-cigarettes as a way to help them to lessen publicity to harm from smoking.

“At the moment there are no licensed goods that can be utilized for medicinal purposes and that’s why we are extremely supportive of the MRHA seeking at the pathway for making certain that there are safe and regulated e-cigarettes that can be promoted for health care purposes.

“Smoking continues to result in the biggest numbers of preventable deaths every single 12 months. Our ambition remains to see the 1st smoke free of charge generation by 2025.”

“Concerns do remain as to the prolonged-phrase well being impact of e-cigarettes…”

Penny Woods, Chief Executive of the British Lung Basis

British smokers urged to start vaping by well being officials

E-cigarette users say vaping can make them truly feel greater and end smelling of smoke

“It aids much more with the social aspect of lifestyle than something,” stated Elijah Williams, owner of House of Vapes, a dimly lit east London cafe total of modest flavour phials with names ranging from Grape to OMG.

“You don’t realise till you start employing it around pals and they are not bothered because it smells like strawberry.”

Customers of e-cigarettes or vaping units often speak about the alter in habit like a conversion story. Devotees say there is a culture of cool close to vaping but that there is more to the habit than fashion. They feel a genuine alter to their lives and their wellness as nicely as a release from cigarette addiction.

Related: Public wellness agency backs e-cigarettes as safer than smoking

“I utilized to be fairly towards it because a whole lot of my friends have been attempting to get me onto it and I did not truly see the stage,” explained Williams, who opened Home of Vapes in April.

“It was only when my pal received an upgrade and he gave me his outdated device and mentioned: ‘Listen, you’ve not paid for it, it is acquired some liquid in it, give it a go.’ Two weeks later, I was outdoors on my lunch break obtaining a cigarette. I started out employing the two of them with each other and I just didn’t like the smell of smoke on my clothes any more.”

Williams went on to see if vaping had impacted his well being, a concern shared by several when e-cigarettes very first hit the stores. His doctor confirmed that his lungs had enhanced because the switch. Williams added: “I consider it is more advantageous than damaging to be truthful.”

Relevant: E-cigarettes: is vaping any safer than old-fashioned smoke?

“As effectively as that, making use of it at residence grew to become a lot much more pleasurable due to the fact I could use it in the front room. I didn’t have to go to the backyard any far more to have a cigarette so I could just sit there and watch EastEnders with my mum which I’d by no means actually been in a position to do – so it’s aided me socially and it’s helped me give up cigarettes as well.”

Chadia Aboutaka, a customer, explained: “I haven’t done significantly analysis on it, but I know that I truly feel much better than I did smoking, so for me that is proof adequate. And I know I really do not want to vape for the rest of my existence anyway. It is anything that I’m carrying out that’s transitionary.

Jack Paul, a younger East Midlands Trains worker from Newcastle who has lately switched from smoking cigarettes to making use of a vaping gadget, additional: “I’m confident it is not one hundred% healthful simply because there is always chemicals in them, but I can say I absolutely come to feel better than I did having cigarettes – I feel they are possibly healthier.”

E-cigarette users say vaping can make them truly feel greater and end smelling of smoke

E-cigarette poisoning figures soar as vaping habit spreads across Uk

Investigation exhibits 36.five% of the phone enquiries manufactured by wellness pros concerned kids aged four and younger. Photograph: Tim Ireland/PA

The quantity of men and women – like very youthful kids – poisoned by swallowing e-cigarette liquids containing nicotine rose sharply in the United kingdom final year.

There were 139 calls by wellness experts seeking professional guidance on how to treat members of the public as the vaping habit rapidly spread.

The figures obtained by the Guardian from the Nationwide Poisons Details Support(NPIS) display that there were 29 this kind of circumstances in 2012 and 36 in excess of the five years before that.

The NPIS’s analysis indicated that in excess of a third (36.five%) of calls concerned really youthful kids, 56% more than 18s and the rest young children of 5 and over and youngsters.

Most poisoning situations have been accidental and signs and symptoms, including vomiting, nausea, dizziness and abdominal pain, were typically quick-lived, according to the service’s director John Thompson.

“Whilst any instances of poisoning are of concern, our preceding analysis showed that fortunately fewer than 1-in-ten of individuals developed symptoms of toxicity which lasted far more than four hrs and only two individuals had long lasting symptoms.

“However, just above a third of the phone enquiries concerned children aged four and younger and of these, 10% produced symptoms which required hospital care,” mentioned Thompson.

“E-cigarette usage has increased drastically in latest years. The liquid found in e-cigarettes can be quite harmful and I would urge any person who employs e-cigarettes to make confident that the liquids are stored safely, and in particular away from kids.”

The figures obtained by the Guardian come after health warnings from the US Centers for Ailment Management (CDC) which has observed large increases in calls to poison centres involving e-cigarettes – from one particular a month in September 2010 to 215 in February this 12 months. In contrast to the British figures, these included calls from the public as nicely as overall health specialists, and also covered instances of inhalation and absorption by means of the skin and eyes.

Sweden too has reported increases in e-cigarette poisoning.

The NPIS figures come as EU nations prepare to tighten controls more than e-cigarettes and some businesses opt to look for costly licensing as medicines, which they would need to have to back up any declare they assist tobacco smokers to quit.

The Welsh government is considering regardless of whether e-cigarettes ought to be banned from public locations, and a new law banning income to underneath-18s in England and Wales is anticipated to be implemented soon.

The 1st e-cigarettes in the United kingdom went on sale in 2005 and now are used by at least 2m people, in accordance to Katherine Devlin, of the Electronic Cigarette Sector Trade Association(Ecita), a Uk physique with 26 companies in membership.

She explained the present EU laws covering the safety of items and chemical compounds should reassure the public. Makers have been already meant to warn e-cigarette end users that liquids in e-cigarette cartridges could be toxic if swallowed or in contact with the skin and urge them to preserve them locked up and out of attain of kids.

But trading specifications officers were not always enforcing the principles, leaving area for “cowboys” to exploit consumers, Devlin stated. Makers and retailers working illegally and not delivering suitable childproof packaging and labelling need to be pursued by authorities despite the fact that she recognised council trading specifications officers had suffered public spending cuts.

“We want accessibility to these goods but they require to be risk-free, appropriately examined and correctly sold,” mentioned Devlin.

Ecita says the new guidelines will indicate numerous e-cigarettes presently on the marketplace will be banned and make new varieties significantly less eye-catching and tougher to use. They are expected to be comprehensive in a directive subsequent month and will be phased in from 2016.

These will demand far more info on nicotine material, which includes its toxicity and addictiveness, new controls over liquid refills, powers for member states and Brussels to act in which there are “justified security worries”, and much better monitoring of developing e-cigarette market place.

The Department of Overall health stated: “We lately passed legislation to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to under 18s. Like any nicotine merchandise, we want to keep e-cigarettes out of the hands of youthful youngsters and are now working to put measures into spot to make certain that new European tobacco regulations are implemented properly.”

E-cigarette poisoning figures soar as vaping habit spreads across Uk