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One million people in England vape despite never having smoked regularly, study finds
One million people in England now vape despite never having been regular smokers, a seven-fold increase in just three years, according to research that has prompted alarm among health experts.
Rates of e-cigarette use among adults who had never regularly smoked were stable until 2021, when one in 200 – about 133,000 people – were vapers. However, the proportion has increased sharply to one in 28 in 2024 – 1,006,000 people – a study published in The Lancet Public Health journal suggests.
Separate figures from the Office for National Statistics also published this week show 5.1 million people aged 16 or over in Britain – about one in 10 – use e-cigarettes.
Vaping rates were highest among those aged 16 to 24, at 15.8%, the ONS found.
Prof Nick Hopkinson, a respiratory physician and chair of Action on Smoking and Health, said: “Vaping has helped millions of adults quit smoking and is much less harmful than smoking. However, it is not risk-free and high levels of use among young people and growing use among never smokers is a concern.”
Prof Sanjay Agrawal, the Royal College of Physician’s special adviser on tobacco, said “urgent action” was required to tackle the rise in vaping among young people and those who had never smoked.
He said: “While e-cigarettes remain a valuable tool for helping smokers quit, it is essential that their use doesn’t create new public health risks, particularly among children.”
The Lancet study led by UCL found that most of the people now using e-cigarettes who had never regularly smoked were vaping daily and over a sustained period. The dramatic increase was largely driven by young adults, with one in seven 18- to 24-year-olds (14%) in England who never regularly smoked now using e-cigarettes, the researchers said.
They warned that banning disposable vapes, which the government plans to do, was unlikely to fix the problem because some brands had already launched reusable products. Instead, they suggested, there should be stricter regulation to make the products look less appealing.
Prof 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 currently plans, is unlikely to fix the issue as popular brands have already launched reusable products with very similar designs and prices.
“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.
Before 2021, the proportion of never-regular-smokers who vaped in England was low, at an average of 0.5% between 2016 and 2020. This increased to 3.5% by April 2024 – just over 1 million vapers. Among these, more than half (an estimated 588,000) were aged between 18 and 24, the study found.
The researchers also found that in recent years people who had never regularly smoked tended to be younger, more were women, and more were drinking at increasing or higher-risk levels.
They also tended to have been vaping for longer, were more likely to use disposable devices and the highest-strength nicotine e-liquids, and bought products from supermarkets or convenience stores.
The lead author, Dr Sarah Jackson of the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, said: “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.
“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.”
“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.”
Source: The Guardian, 2 October 2024
Editorial note: Hazel Cheeseman, Chief Executive of ASH in response to the study from UCL said:
“The increased use in vapes among people who don’t smoke regularly could be a cause for concern. While it may be diverting some people from smoking, which is to be welcomed, it may also be leading some people to start using nicotine which is addictive. The most effective way to limit the use of vapes in non-smokers is to reduce their appeal. The aggressive marketing of products to young people means the government urgently needs to bring back the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to regulate vape flavours, marketing and branding. Until the Bill is passed into law, the government cannot take the action needed to curb vaping among children and never-smokers.”
See also: The Lancet - Vaping among adults in England who have never regularly smoked: a population-based study, 2016–24 | ONS – Adult smoking habits in the UK: 2023
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BBC breakfast: Dr Matthew Evison discusses vaping
Respiratory consultant Matthew Evison is interviewed on BBC Breakfast to discuss vaping regulation in light of a recent study which found that 1 million adults in the UK are vapers despite never having been regular smokers, primarily driven by 18-24 year olds.
Evison states that recent statistics published by the Office for National Statistics show that this age group has seen the biggest drop in smoking prevalence so it is likely that vaping has displaced some smoking which is positive for public health overall.
However, he adds that this is not the whole story and that there is an increasing appeal and accessibility in vaping which requires legislation to tackle.
Responding to a question about the evidence on harms caused by vaping, Dr Evison says that vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking and if you smoke, switching to vaping represents a significant reduction in risk. But, he says that vaping is not risk-free and if you never smoked then you are exposing yourself to additional harms by taking up vaping. He adds that more long-term research is needed to fully understand the harms.
You can listen from 1:53:07.
Source: BBC Breakfast, 3 October 2024
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Illegal vapes seized in series of shop raids
Almost 800 vapes, 11,500 cigarettes and 5kg of hand rolling tobacco were confiscated from three shops in St Neots, Huntingdon and Ramsey on 25 September.
The multi-agency operation included trading standards officers and tobacco-sniffing dogs.
The county council said the raids followed "an influx of intelligence from concerned members of the public".
Earlier this year, raids in Ely, Littleport, March, Chatteris and Ramsey led to the seizure of 5,600 illegal vapes, bringing the total seized this year to 6,400.
Issues identified included vapes with tank sizes that are illegal in the UK due to the quantities of liquid they contained, and vapes that wrongly stated they had no nicotine inside.
Peter Gell, from Cambridgeshire County Council, said: "These ongoing, targeted enforcement operations send a clear message to the shops that supply these products, and the organised crime gangs behind these crimes, that the sale of illegal vapes won't be tolerated in Cambridgeshire.
"We are committed to taking a hard line with anyone we uncover perpetrating these crimes."
Source: BBC, 1 October 2024
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