If you are on Twitter and follow Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) advocates, no doubt you will have seen this latest press release from ASH UK (Action on Smoking & Health) titled – “Four in ten smokers wrongly believe that vaping is as or more harmful than smoking“.

ash press release 3-8-23

That is utterly shocking in a supposedly “pro-vaping” country like England.

This has been triggered by the release of results of the ASH UK / YouGov annual e-cigarette use survey.

The survey takes place every spring since 2010 and the results from February / March 2023 have just been published.

Table of Contents

Survey Results

Below I quote the main findings summarised on the ASH UK website here plus others which stood out for me.

If you want to read the full results download the PDF here.

Use and awareness of e-cigarettes

  • The proportion of the population using e-cigarettes this year is 9.1%, the highest rate ever, equal to 4.7million adults in Great Britain (Table 1).ash vaping 2023 table 1
  • 2.7 million (56%) are ex-smokersash 2023 vape v smoking
  • 1.7 million (37%) are current smokers
  • 320,000 are never smokers (1.1% of never smokers are current vapers, and 6.7% of current vapers are never smokers)

Why people vape

  • The main reasons given by ex-smokers for vaping is to help them quit (31%); to prevent relapse (22%); because they enjoy the experience (14%); and to save money (12%).ash 2023 why do smokers vape
  • The main reasons given by current smokers for vaping is to cut down on smoking (19%), to try to help them quit (17%) and to prevent relapse (13%).
  • The main reasons never-smokers vape is because they enjoy the experience (39%) and just to give it a try (27%).

Devices and products used

  • The most commonly used type of e-cigarette device remains a refillable tank system, with 50% of current vapers reporting this type as their main device. (Figure 12).ash 2023 figure 12
  • However, disposable vapes have become more popular in 2023 (31%), compared with 2022 (15%) and 2021 (2.3%).
  • E-cigarettes with replaceable cartridges were used by 17% of vapers.
  • Use of disposable vapes has risen particularly quickly among younger adults. (Figure 13). Among 18-24year olds, over half of current e-cigarettes users (57%) use disposables as their main type in 2023.ash 2023 figure 13
  • The majority of adults currently vaping use nicotine strengths below 13 mg/ml. Only 1.2% of current vapers use e-liquids over the legal limit of 20 mg/ml with 13% saying they don’t know.
  • Fruit flavour (47%) was the most popular e-liquid flavour followed by Menthol / Mint (17%). Surprisingly 12% chose tobacco as their favourite flavour – I am stunned!ash 2023 flavours

Perceptions of harm

  • Four in ten smokers incorrectly believe vaping is as or more harmful than smoking up from a third last year and one in five in 2019. (Figure 9)ash 2023 figure 9
  • A third of smokers understand that vaping is less harmful than smoking, but fewer than one in ten that they are a lot less harmful than vaping.
  • Ex-smokers who vape (2.9 million) have the most accurate perceptions of harm, with 75% correctly identifying that vaping is less harmful than smoking.ash 2023 figure 10

Reasons why smokers haven’t tried using e-cigarettes

1.8 million (27%) of smokers have not yet tried e-cigarettes giving as their main reasons (Figure 7):

ash 2023 figure 7

  • Addiction (20% said they do not want to substitute one addiction for another, while conversely 9.0% said that they are not addicted to smoking and don’t need help to quit).
  • Another 14% cited safety concerns; 13% that they do not believe that e-cigarettes could help them quit or cut down; and 8.4% not knowing enough about e-cigarettes.

My Thoughts

In order to help counteract all the negativity towards vaping found in this survey, ASH have produced a factsheet to bust some of the common myths. I will write about this in another article but you can have a peek at it here… “Addressing common myths about vaping“.

ash mythbusting vaping

Thank you ASH UK for being on the side of true harm reduction. I know some of your policies are not always popular with vapers but at least you see vaping for the benefit of accelerating the decrease in smoking rate. Unlike some of their counterparts – cough – ASH Scotland…

I also love the factsheet and urge any readers to get sharing it!

Responses

The IBVTA (independent British Vape Trade Association) have published a Press Release in response – you can read about it here…

The Science Media Centre has collected the responses of various Health Professionals and I discuss it here…

Shell Ecigclick Photo
Michelle Jones

I am an engineer and Technical Author by trade. My journey in vaping began around 2016, in the days of Tornado tanks, Ego batteries and Variable Voltage. It took me a few years to fully quit smoking but I finally stopped in June 2019 and that is all thanks to vaping! 20mg Nicotine Salts are my hero! Oh and I am partial to a nice pod mod and Bubblegum e-liquid! I have reported on the latest news on Ecigclick since 2017 and love being part of this great team! My passion for Tobacco Harm Reduction has also led me to becoming a Trustee for the NNA (New Nicotine Alliance) aiding in Advocacy

Michelle Jones
https://nnalliance.org/nna-uk/board
I am an engineer and Technical Author by trade. My journey in vaping began around 2016, in the days of Tornado tanks, Ego batteries and Variable Voltage. It took me a few years to fully quit smoking but I finally stopped in June 2019 and that is all thanks to vaping! 20mg Nicotine Salts are my hero! Oh and I am partial to a nice pod mod and Bubblegum e-liquid! I have reported on the latest news on Ecigclick since 2017 and love being part of this great team! My passion for Tobacco Harm Reduction has also led me to becoming a Trustee for the NNA (New Nicotine Alliance) aiding in Advocacy
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