One million people in England dangerously have their head in the clouds
Researchers from University College London (UCL) have discovered that one million people in England vape despite never having been regular smokers.
Politicians, policymakers and a number of medical experts have tried to make 2024 the year we crack down on smoking and vaping. However, a new study, which was published in The Lancet Public Health journal earlier this week, shows the problem is more out of control than ever.
Within the research, experts monitored the use of e-cigarettes among adults and found that until 2021 one in 200 people used them – this is the equivalent to 133,000 people. Although the number is high, the statistic skyrocketed this year as now one in 28 – 1,006,000 people – were found to have started vaping. What’s more, the study found that most of the people now using e-cigarettes who had never indulged in smoking previously, are using them daily and over a sustained period.
The huge incline was largely driven by young adults, with one in seven 18- to 24-year-olds in England who never regularly smoked now using e-cigarettes.
Professor Jamie Brown, of the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care and a senior author of the study, said: ‘These findings are a reminder that action is required to try to minimise vaping among young people who have never previously smoked. However, a balancing act is required to avoid deterring smokers from using e-cigarettes to quit.
‘Banning disposables, as the UK government current plans, is unlikely to fix the issue as popular brands have already launched reusable products with very similar designs and prices.’
So what’s next? Professor Brown continued: ‘A sensible next step would be to introduce stricter regulation around product appearance, packaging and marketing, as those are less likely to reduce the effectiveness of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation – unlike, for instance, flavour bans.
‘The fact that overall vaping prevalence appears to have levelled off since 2023 may reassure policymakers that it would be reasonable to begin with these measures and assess their impact.’
Moreover, the lead author of the study, Dr Sarah Jackson of the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, has explained the health complications that will come out of the significant rise in the amount of people vaping.
‘The public health impact of this substantial rise in vaping among people who have never regularly smoked will depend on what these people would otherwise be doing,’ she said. ‘It is likely that some would have smoked if vaping were not an available option. In this case, vaping is clearly less harmful. However, for those who would not have gone on to smoke, vaping regularly over a sustained period poses more risk than not vaping.’
Elsewhere, a second study that is separate from UCL’s research, published simultaneously in the Lancet Public Health concluded that accelerating measures to eliminate tobacco smoking could help boost life expectancy and prevent millions of premature deaths worldwide by 2050.
Arguably, there couldn’t be a better time to limit the use of vapes among adults in England. Separate figures published from the Office for National Statistics this week show 5.1 million people aged 16 or over in Britain use e-cigarettes.
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