NEWS
NEWS
US : GROWING NUMBER OF SMOKERS & PUBLIC DON ' T BELIEVE THAT VAPING IS LESS HARMFUL THAN SMOKING
Despite falling smoking rates , some think vaping is harmful and ineffective .
BY LEO FORFAR
An increasing number of smokers in the US do not believe that vaping is less harmful than smoking tobacco .
That ’ s according to the latest Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health ( PATH ) study which was presented at the fifth Global Forum on Nicotine in Warsaw in June . Researchers found that in 2015 , 57 percent of adult smokers stateside viewed e-cigarettes as being just as harmful or more harmful than smoking . This figure increased from 43 percent in 2013 .
The report said : “ The proportion of adult current smokers who believed e-cigarettes were just as , or more , harmful than smoking increased substantially .” When extended to the general population , smoker and nonsmoker alike , the number rose from 54 percent in 2013 to 65 percent in 2015 .
Though it only covers a two-year period and ends in 2015 , this is the most up to date comprehensive collection of such data . The study describes the phenomenon as evidence of a , “ poor understanding among smokers , of all smoking statuses , about the relative harms of e-cigarettes ,” and that it is “ of concern .”
Perceptions are worsening , even though scientific evidence supporting e-cigarettes ’ relative safety and effectiveness in cessation is growing . The report concedes that during this same two-year period , “ independent scientific evidence grew supporting e-cigarettes as a less harmful alternative to combustible tobacco .”
The report also acknowledges that overseas , attitudes towards vaping are improving as smoking rates fall , mentioning the approval of public health organisations in countries like the UK , which are embracing e-cigarettes and pushing smokers towards them as an alternative to smoking . The US is relatively uninformed and lagging behind in this effort , remaining “ poorly informed about the relative risk of these products .”
This is not the only recent publication confirming such a downward trend in the perception of smokers ’ and the general public . A 2017 global survey from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World measured 45 percent of US smokers as seeing vaping “ as harmful as or more harmful than conventional cigarettes .” A smaller number , but not one vape companies and advocates are likely to receive well .
Nicotine is an addictive substance and the only element linking e-cigarettes with combustible cigarettes . Misconceptions about the harms caused by nicotine appear to drive this negative perception about e-cigarettes in the US . The PATH study cites data from the 2017 findings as a possible candidate for such a misconception :
“ Moreover , US consumers believed that using nicotine every day was more dangerous than drinking every day and that nicotine itself , rather than smoking , was a cause of lung cancer , throat cancer , and heart disease .”
The PATH report calls for more assertive clarity from the authorities . It suggests that policy makers “ aim to assess the causes and effects of misperceptions of the relative harm of e-cigarettes compared with conventional cigarettes and improve knowledge about the role of nicotine in the development of diseases caused by smoking .”
The global vape industry has seen its successes by marketing their products as an exceptionally effective tool for the specific purpose of smoking cessation . Although the US remains the dominant e-cigarette market , the perceptions of its smoking and non-smoking populations are an outlier , and not in line with the potential the American market still can create for cessation .
“ INDEPENDENT SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE GREW SUPPORTING E-CIGARETTES AS A LESS HARMFUL ALTERNATIVE TO COMBUSTIBLE TOBACCO .”
24 | VM18