While in America scaremongers and the tobacco lobby push against the popularization of vaping, in the UK the government is leading the way by promoting vapes as a healthy alternative to cigarettes. According to research from the University College London (UCL) and Cancer Research UK, more than 18,000 long-term smokers in England quit in 2015 after taking up vaping.
Vaping can ease the transition towards a nicotine-free life
A 2019 study from the UCL found that, while smokers using Nicotine Replacement Therapy methods, like gums and patches, are 34% more likely to succeed than if they just went cold turkey, those switching their cigarettes for vapes are three times more likely (95%) to stop smoking altogether.
The fact that the mechanics of smoking and vaping superficially resemble each other and that vapes can also carry nicotine to the lungs — but without the company of other dangerous chemicals found in tobacco — can significantly ease the transition for smokers.
Tobacco use is declining but vaping could speed up its demise
According to 2017 statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cigarette smoking in the US is reaching unprecedented lows, with only 14% of US adults smoking compared to 40% in the mid-1960s.
According to Doctor Brian King, senior author of the report, the decline is due to smoke-free policies and the increasing price of tobacco products. However, while tobacco use is plummeting, vaping’s low costs and risks are making it increasingly popular among both smokers and non-smokers.
Although the US and other countries have remained skeptical about vaping, the UK’s pro-vaping stance has allowed researchers and NGOs to make surprising progress in the war on tobacco. Hopefully, it’ll only be a matter of time until America and the rest of the world follow the Brits’ footsteps towards a tobacco-free world!
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018, November 08) Cigarette Smoking Among U.S. Adults Lowest Ever Recorded: 14% in 2017
- CNN (2018, November 08) US cigarette smoking rate reaches new low
- The Independent (2016, September 14) Vaping ‘helps almost 20,000 people stop smoking’, experts estimate
- The Sun (2019, May 23) E-cigarettes are ‘THREE TIMES more effective than nicotine patches at helping smokers quit’
