The British anti-smoking nonprofit, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), has commissioned an annual survey of e-cigarette use since 2010, including over 12,000 adults. The most recent survey also included over 2,000 teenagers. This important bit of data collection should, given an objective hearing, go a long way towards calming the largely irrational fears raised by some public health groups about e-cigarette uptake among teens.
The report, Use of electronic cigarettes in Great Britain, found that while e-cig use in the UK was rising rapidly, the number of teens using them was quite small, and moreover, that almost all such users were previously tobacco smokers. Only 1 percent of never-smoking teens who had heard of e-cigarettes had tried them once or twice, and none were regular vapers.
Over 90 percent of adults had heard of e-cigs, and among the users, all vaped to either quit smoking or to reduce their cigarette intake. Surprisingly perhaps, two-thirds of the 2.1 million UK vapers both vape and smoke. Between 2010 and 2014, the number who had vaped increased over six-fold. And even in adults, Electronic cigarette use amongst never smokers remains negligible.
I really don t have much to add to the results of this survey. It s quite clear: in the UK, vapers have taken to vaping quite enthusiastically, the goal being to escape from smoking. Even though many both smoke and vape, the health benefits of reducing your cigarette consumption is also to be desired. And the teen data confirm what our own CDC knows but refuses to divulge: teens who do not smoke yet are attracted to e-cigs are few and far between, a fact that should be drummed into the heads of our own politicians who seek to ban them for the sake of the children.'