Irish Vapers Surveyed
RED C has conducted research on behalf of Respect Vapers looking at what vapers use and why – and what impact a ban might have
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by Dave Cross
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In Ireland, the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill is being scrutinised and although it doesn’t contain any provision to ban flavoured e-liquid, many including some serving on the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland policy group on tobacco are calling for one.
The survey found that almost all vapers are ex-smokers.
“They also see vaping as something that has helped them quit smoking and has been more effective in helping them do this compared to other means like patches and gum.”
Most people use a small number of flavour profiles.
“Tobacco, menthol and fruit are the most commonly used flavours and while taste is a big driver of appeal, the use of flavoured vapes is acknowledged by nearly all ex-smoking vapers as a means of staying off cigarettes.”
Most vapers do not want a flavour ban.
“A majority don’t want to see a ban on flavoured vapes being introduced and there is concern this could lead to the creation of a black market for flavoured vapes.”
There is concern that a ban on flavours would lead to an increase in smoking.
“Just over two-in-five vapers that were ex-smokers said they were likely to take-up smoking again if a ban came in, while around threequarters were concerned that a ban would see an increase in more young people smoking.”
The founder of Respect Vapers, Joe Dunne told journalists: “If a flavour ban did come out, you will be looking at probably 45 to 50 per cent of vapers going back to cigarettes. Then you look at probably 30 per cent going to buy black market products.
“Are we willing to consider a flavour ban because maybe there’s a potential of people using vape that should not, or are we willing to put 100,000 people back smoking to a life-threatening product, and probably 50,000 of them back to death and disease associated with smoking? So many people die in car crashes all the time, but we don’t ban driving. What we do is we make it as harm reductive as we can, with speed limits, safety belts.”
The full findings of the survey can be found on the Respect Vapers’ website at the link below.
References:
- Understanding how vapers would react to a ban on flavoured vapes - https://respectvapers.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/RedC-survey-of-vapers-March-2022.pdf
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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