Four in ten smokers wrongly believe that vaping is as or more harmful as smoking

Earlier in 2023, the government announced a national ‘swap to stop’ campaign to offer one million smokers a free vaping starter kit, together with behavioural support, to help them quit smoking. Vaping combined with behavioural support is nearly twice as effective as medicinal nicotine replacement therapy, so this evidence-based strategy could play a significant role in delivering the government’s smokefree 2030 ambition.

However, the success of ‘swap to stop’ is threatened by growing concerns among smokers that vaping is as or more risky then smoking.

Among the 1.8 million smokers who are yet to try vaping, 43 per cent believe e-cigarettes are as harmful or more than smoking up from 27 per cent in 2019. Among the 2.9 million smokers who have tried vaping but stopped, 44 per cent believe vaping is as harmful or more than smoking up from 25 per cent in 2019. The most accurate risk perceptions are among the 2.7 million ex-smokers who vape and 2.9 million ex-smokers who are ex-vapers, 75 per cent and 45 per cent of whom correctly believe that vaping is less harmful than smoking.

Hazel Cheeseman, deputy chief executive of ASH said, “The government has backed a vaping strategy as its path to reduce rates of smoking, but this approach will be undermined if smokers don’t try vapes due to safety fears or stop vaping too soon and revert to smoking. The government must act quickly to improve public understanding that vaping poses a fraction of the risk of smoking.”

Dr Ruth Sharrock, clinical lead for tobacco dependency, North East and North Cumbria NHS Integrated Care Board added that vaping was an important tool to support smokers to quit, “When I see patients who smoke they are already sick with smoking-related disease and have often given up hope of ever stopping. Vaping is a valuable tool in our armoury to tackle smoking, particularly for patients who are heavily addicted. However, too many of my patients have seen alarmist media headlines that worry them and put them off giving vaping a go.”

Alongside the 2023 data on adult vaping ASH is publishing a ‘myth buster’ challenging common misrepresentations of the evidence on vaping. This has been developed with the country’s leading experts on smoking and vaping and provides evidence that: