A news report has surfaced this week which potentially points towards smokers choosing to forgo NHS cessation services and switching to e-cigarettes instead.
In the story, published by the BBC, the Smoking Matters service in Dumfries and Galloway reports that they have aided 102 people in some deprived areas to quit smoking in the past year, significantly lower than their target of 353. This falls in line with national figures showing a similar trend.
This is further evidence that fewer people are turning to NHS support in order to quit smoking. What’s also clear is the number of those who vape is rising steadily.
In the latest Smoking Statistics factsheet published by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), they state that there are 10 million adults in the UK who still smoke cigarettes, which equates to around 1 in 6 of the total population. In their May 2015 fact sheet, they report that there are around 2.6 million adults currently using electronic cigarettes. That’s one quarter of the total number of smokers, which is not bad for an industry as young as ours, and this number is growing all the time.
In the BBC News article, Dr Andrew Carnon states that the decrease in those seeking NHS support to quit smoking may be “partially explained” by the rise of e-cigs, but goes on to state that “we actually don’t know at this stage how effective they are in helping people to stop smoking.”
Such as statement flies in the face of the evidence which already exists. ASH’s research has found that there are approximately 1.1 million adults who now identify as ex-smokers thank to having switched to vaping.
It also runs counter to what we hear from our customers, week-in, week-out. We hear regularly from people who have smoked for years, often most of their lives, who have never been able to quit smoking. It’s only been since the advent of vaping that they’ve been able to make the switch away from tobacco.
Below is just a small selection of genuine reviews left by recent customers. These are just a few examples of the kinds of things we hear all the time, and illustrate just how effective e-cigs have been in helping people to leave tobacco behind.
“As for my vaping so far I've never smoked a real cig since I started vaping I'm very happy to have started.” - Janette
“Having been a smoker for 30 years and now not smoked for 2 years I can actually say I enjoy vaping.” – Stephen
“After 30 years of smoking I haven't touched 1 cig for 5 weeks.” – Patrick
“I have been vaping for about 4 years now and could never return to ordinary cigarettes.” - Andrew
“Having tried many ways and many ecigs to try and give up, JAC Vapour was the one that made my attempt successful and 3 yrs on, I still have not even desired a single puff of a 'proper' cigarette.” –Sian
“Had a check this week on my COPD & its improved, thank you JAC Vapour you have saved my life, literally!!” – Sarah
In March this year we were pleased to receive and publish an email from 82 year old Terry Walker, which discussed his success in quitting tobacco after 68 years. We even have our own such stories from within the ranks of JAC Vapour itself. Communications Director Emma Logan says:
“I began smoking at 14 years of age and tried everything - cold turkey, hypnotherapy, Allan Carr, NRT. Nothing worked. I started vaping in 2010 at the age of 34, and by 2013 I was down to 0mg and now don’t vape either. A testament to our own products. Why is evidence such as this only viewed as 'anecdotal' when lives are being saved using e-cigs? This should be celebrated. We work with a couple of forward thinking NHS authorities who offer JAC Vapour products as a switching aid to giving up smoking. Other authorities should follow suit, be informed and educate smokers on the benefits of vaping.”
Smoking cessation services in the UK have played an important role in helping people to quit smoking, and their value cannot be ignored. Nevertheless , the available services and products are simply not suitable for everyone. The opportunity afforded by e-cigarettes means that many more people can now successfully quit tobacco for a safer alternative.
There is still a lot of conflicting information available to those looking to switch away from tobacco to e-cigarettes. Some sceptics continue to press the point that the addiction to nicotine continues while vaping (at least while using e-liquids containing nicotine). This is valid consideration, however, it ignores that vaping eliminates all of the things which may kill you when smoking.
It should also be asked; is nicotine addiction on its own any worse than the caffeine addition shared by millions of people all over the world? Both have similar physiological effects (an increase in heart rate and blood pressure), but the beauty of vaping is that you can take control of your nicotine intake and not allow your habit to control you.
That said, smokers who are considering making the switch should always ensure to only buy from reputable vendors who hold all necessary certification. All of our products, for example, hold relevant CE and RoHS certificates and we conduct batch testing on all of our e-liquids in independent UK labs.