Data Shows Potential of Vaping for Cessation

New data from Action on Smoking and Health U.K. (ASH U.K.) found more than half of ex-smokers in Great Britain who quit in the past five years—amounting to 2.7 million adults—used a vape in their last quit attempt.

Further, it revealed the main motivations for vaping among current smokers included “cutting down on smoking,” “protect[ing] others from the risk of secondhand smoke” or “to help them quit.”

ASH U.K. also reported that misperceptions around vaping are at an all-time high, with 50 percent of smokers wrongly believing vaping to be as or more harmful when compared with smoking.

The new data also found that while current and ever use of vaping among young people has decreased between 2023 and 2024, under 18s are still accessing these age-gated products.

“The latest figures from ASH U.K. once again highlight the stop-smoking credentials of vaping for adults and reinforce the instrumental role these products have and must continue to play in stubbing out the health burden of smoking for good,” said U.K. Vaping Industry Association Director General John Dunne in a statement.

“That said, if vaping is to reach its full potential in supporting the smoke-free ambition, action must be taken to address growing misperceptions about the less harmful alternative, which are no doubt being exacerbated by mainstream media scare stories and some mixed messaging in the public health sphere. This could be achieved through the introduction of national public education campaigns, which arm adults with the best, science-backed information to help them quit.”