3rd October 2024
“The UKVIA does not advocate non-smokers using vapes. They are designed as a smoking cessation tool, and as data out this week from the ONS showed, vaping is playing a ‘major role’ in the decline of smoking in the UK.
“This new research talks about ‘never-regular-smokers’ vaping, their definition for this being people who have not smoked for more than a year. This definition is problematic as it does not exclusively include what most people would define as non-smokers. As the study authors also point out, it is impossible to say if their cohort, whether experimenting with cigarettes already or not, would not have become smokers were it not for vapes. The authors themselves also note that some people have genes and circumstances leading them to like nicotine products; traditionally, they ended up smoking, but some are now discovering vaping without becoming smokers first. If vaping did not exist, they would be smoking.
“Vaping should only be for smokers looking to quit, but we also need to ensure that those smokers continue to have access to what they need in order to quit”.
John Dunne, Director General, UKVIA