A newly-released dataset based on a government-sponsored survey of smoking and related issues in Britain shows what other studies and surveys have previously shown, here and in Europe: 1-the regular or frequent use of e-cigarettes and vapor products among non-smokers is minuscule; and 2-millions of smokers have switched entirely or largely by using harm reduction methods, e-cigs and related vapor products.
The report was issued by the UK s Office for National Statistics, and is entitled Adult Smoking Habits in Great Britain, 2013. The survey showed that the fraction of non-smokers who used e-cigs in the UK during the first 3 months of 2014 was 0.14 percent. That is equivalent to 14 ecig-using nonsmokers per 10,000 respondents. Hardly a case for an epidemic of vaping among nicotine-naive people (in fact, it s quite possible that some of those 14 may have been previously using other tobacco products, such as smokeless).
The wording of the official document s conclusions: E-cigarette use was almost solely confined to smokers and ex-smokers, and was negligible amongst those who have never smoked cigarettes. E-cigarettes were mainly used to help smokers quit smoking, and because users saw them as being less harmful than cigarettes.
I have covered the phony alarmist distortions of the powers-that-be in our own country, orchestrated by the CDC, the FDA, and the various public health nonprofits and their acolyte politicians who continually warn us against the lure of ecigs and vapor products for our ingenuous teens, the gateway effect. We have shown that there is indeed a gateway effect: helping teens and other young people who are addicted to tobacco products to escape from their harmful habit by switching to low-risk products. Now we see another brick in the wall of evidence supporting the clear benefits vs. the hypothetical risks of harm reduction products, from the UK this time. If the ecig industry can prevail over the hyper-regulatory efforts of our FDA and the EU s tobacco products directive and the WHO, the horizon of a smoke-free existence can perhaps be glimpsed, through a glass, darkly although many years away.
