More than half of vapers in UK have given up smoking cigarettes, survey finds

Vaping: The majority of those use used e-cigarettes to help them quit smoking have since given up tobacco
PA wire

More than half of the millions of people who vape to help them quit smoking have since given up cigarettes, a new survey has found.

For the first time, more than half of the current 2.9million people in the UK who vape no longer smoke using tobacco at all, the annual data found.

But Action on Smoking and Health’s (Ash) survey also found that many vape users are still exposed to cancer-causing substances found in tobacco smoke.

This is because they still “dual-use” regular and electronic cigarettes.

Ann McNeill, professor of tobacco addiction at King's College London, said the new figures on the rising numbers of quitters are “encouraging”.

She added: “This year's Ash survey finds that around 1.5 million vapers are ex-smokers, for the first time a larger number than those who continue to smoke.

"This is encouraging news as we know that vapers who continue to smoke continue to be exposed to cancer-causing substances.

"The message for the 1.3 million vapers who still smoke is that they need to go further and switch completely."

The survey into the use of electronic cigarettes and vapourisers found that people were over-estimating the dangers of using the smoking device.

It showed that only 13 per cent of those surveyed said e-cigarettes were less harmful than smoking. Some 26 per cent thought it was equally as harmful.

The most common reasons for ditching tobacco and picking up a vapouriser given were to help them quit completely, and to save money.

But Ash chief executive Deborah Arnott pointed out that there were still nine million active smokers.

She said: "The rapid growth in e-cigarette use has come to an end while over a third of smokers have still never tried e-cigarettes, saying the main reasons are concerns about the safety and addictiveness of e-cigarettes.

"It's very important smokers realise that vaping is much, much less harmful than smoking."

The survey also found that fruit has usurped tobacco as the most commonly used flavour to use in vapes.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT