The phenomenon of e-cigarettes appears to have gripped the UK by storm according to new statistics. A healthy charity has estimated that the user base of e-cigarettes has tripled to 2.1 million since 2010.
The charity, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), have found that approximately half of current and ex-smokers have used e-cigarettes, compared with just 8% in 2010. This dramatic rise in the use of e-cigarettes, according to a separate study, is attributed to people who were trying to quit smoking.
Of the 2.1 million users of e-cigarettes, approximately 700,000 of these are believed to be ex-smokers while the remaining 1.4 million is attributed to those who use e-cigarettes alongside regular cigarettes. ASH has been conducting these surveys since 2010 and has also determined that the numbers of regular users of e-cigarettes has risen from 2.7% in 2010 to 17.7% in 2014.
When smokers were questioned as to why they decided to start using e-cigarettes, 48% responded that they wanted to reduce the quantity of tobacco they used while 37% focussed on how they spent less money compared to ordinary cigarettes. The Chief Executive of ASH, Deborah Arnott, highlights that “the dramatic rise in the use of electronic cigarettes over the past four years suggests that smokers are increasingly turning to these devices to help them cut down or quit smoking”.
A separate study, The Smoking Toolkit Study has also discovered that more and more people are turning to e-cigarettes to quit smoking as opposed to the older methods of using nicotine gum and patches. This surge in the use of e-cigarettes, therefore, highlights both health and economic factors in their overall usage. This study also determined that the overall amount of smokers in society has decreased while there is a negligible amount of people taking up smoking through the use of e-cigarettes.
The leader of this study, Prof Robert West, has also discounted the original myth that the use of e-cigarettes would “normalize” smoking. Prof West’s research has shown that there is no current evidence to support this view. He argued that the contrary is true, that e-cigarettes are actually decreasing the amount of current smokers as well as those who may take the habit up.
The leader of the ASH study, Deborah Arnott, also corroborates with this view. Arnott also argued that the argument that e-cigarettes would open a new floodgate for smokers is not only an unfounded claim but that the reverse is actually what the evidence shows. The director of Forest, a group which supports the smoking community, commented how this new research was beneficial in understanding the effects of e-cigarettes and how they actually have a beneficial impact on society.
The research performed by these organisations shows the use of e-cigarettes is likely to increase and paradoxically this will ultimately cause a decline in those taking up smoking.