The UKVIA has created an industry led awareness month to help smokers make a switch to vaping.
Before VApril there was Stoptober which is a public health led initiative to help smokers give up any which way they choose but VApril is brought to the public by the vape industry.
Created to promote the ease and success rates of quitting using vaping only; Known to be 95% safer than smoking, backed by both Public Health England, the NHS and NICE, vaping is an easy way to stop your smoking habit and, if it’s your goal, to reduce your nicotine content to zero.
Why don’t more smokers make the switch?
There are still over 7 million smokers in the UK.
People are still wary of vaping, we often hear ‘but we don’t know if it’s safe’, ‘it will create more smokers through the gateway effect’, ‘but, you’re still addicted to nicotine’, ‘I like smoking’ …
Firstly, let’s just discuss the elephant in the room;
- Smoking WILL damage your health
- 2nd hand passive smoking WILL harm others
Nicotine is harmful in as much as it’s addictive and raises your heart rate, in the same way caffeine is addictive – but we don’t often see warning labels at Starbucks. It’s the tar in a combusted cigarette that will kill you – once a cigarette is combusted it releases over 4000 chemicals, 70+ of which are known carcinogens. As e cigarettes are non-combustible, none of the above is true for vaping.
- There have been numerous studies conducted that dispel any ‘gateway effect’ and similarly all studies looking for 2nd hand properties have found nothing. Nothing! No-one has died or developed any illnesses from vaping in the 10 year period that devices have been on general sale.
- So, let’s look at smoking stats - In 2015/16, around 474,000 NHS hospital admissions in England were linked to smoking-related conditions. In addition to this in 2015 around 16% (79,000) of all deaths were due to smoking.
- Public Health England states that at least 20,000 people a year could be giving up cigarettes thanks to vaping, our aim is to ensure more smokers are better educated about what to buy and what products are the best fit for their habit
Whilst you can never say anything is risk free, walking down the street comes with its own risks – you CAN without doubt say that vaping is better for your health than smoking.
But what do I know?
If vaping is 95% safer than smoking then why would you continue with the alternative?
What I know – I quit smoking by vaping and haven’t had a cigarette for 7 years after a 20 year, 15 a day habit. I have reduced my nicotine level to 0mg – I no longer intake nicotine – I am addiction free. Why do I still vape then?
Habit.
Habits form over many years and associations are hard to break – e.g. smoke break at work, having a glass of wine on a Friday night, speaking to my mother on the phone at night, after dinner.
All occasions I used to smoke and my brain has been hardwired – the habit is the hardest thing to break for smokers.
With vaping, you don’t need to. You can switch to a healthier alternative and continue the hand to mouth action that is ingrained in to your being. Only ex-smokers understand how hard it can be to quit the habit.
Obviously; we are a vape company and we do profit from our products – but, with many ex-smokers in the organisation we genuinely care and want to help smokers quit their habit the same way we did.
We are here to support all smokers – not just during VApril but any day of the year.