E-cigarettes winning over hundreds of thousands of smokers, and with good reason
It seems that the anti-e-cigarette campaign has resulted in mixed feelings from the public at large, for while a greater number of people now believe that e-cigarettes are more harmful than smoking – 22%, up from last year’s result of 15% – according to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), up to half a million new vapers have joined the community, bringing it up to a whopping 2.6 million strong in the UK alone. So, as the nation becomes ever more polarised on the subject, what has driven these numbers and who should be believed?
Dr Leonie Brose from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London is clear on the subject. According to Sky News, she said: “We must clearly communicate the relative safety of electronic cigarettes to smokers. The proven harm of tobacco is currently getting less coverage than the much smaller and far less certain harm from electronic cigarettes. We owe it to smokers to provide them with accurate information.”
The problem is that there is no consensus – while some experts claim the potential for harm and that vaping could be a gateway to smoking for non-smokers, calling for more testing, others are evangelical about the benefits of e-cigarettes as the most effective means of helping smokers to quit their toxic habit.
The ASH study does shed a little light to help anyone still on the fence to make up their minds. According to their research, the most common reason why vapers use e-cigarettes is to help them to stop smoking, with 48% of those asked citing that as their reason, closely followed, at 38%, with those who use vaping as a means to prevent them from relapsing after quitting. Whether miracle cure or psychological success, most would agree that as quitting is such a tough task, anything that helps should be promoted as such.
As for the ‘gateway to smoking’ issue, well, ASH research quashes that theory with only 0.2% of vapers being from the camp of non-smokers.
The vaping community is strong, convinced of the benefits of e-cigarettes, and growing. And it seems that nothing that the naysayers can throw at them seems to change this conviction.
Smoking kills – we all know this. Smoking is an addiction; once again, nothing new there. If you need help once you have chosen a longer healthier life over the draw of cigarettes, then vaping could well offer the support you need to quit. And you owe it to yourself to investigate every opportunity available…
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