CRUK Commissioning Disposables Research
The Social and Behavioural Research team at Cancer Research UK has is commissioning work “Understanding the use and appeal of disposable e-cigarettes for adults who are attempting to or have quit smoking”
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by Dave Cross
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CRUK notes that disposables have boomed in the UK recently, especially with younger adults due to the low cost and ease of use. But the charity worries about “a rapid increase in disposables as the most frequently used e-cigarette product in youth in the last year”.
The authors of CRUK’s briefing paper do note that while teen use is by and large restricted to experimental use, recent findings have fed into “calls for tighter regulations and bans on disposables to curb youth uptake”.
CRUK worries about the unintended consequences of the Government pushing through with a complete disposable vape ban, saying: “There are further concerns regarding whether changes to the accessibility of disposables may disproportionately affect adults from lower socioeconomic backgrounds due to the low upfront cost of disposables in comparison to refillable products, potentially widening cancer inequalities.”
The briefing paper cites a yet-to-be published CRUK study led by Frances Thirlway looking at “the role of packaging in e-cigarette purchasing and use”. The research found that “participants who used disposables and aimed to change to refillable devices showed that high initial cost was one of the main barriers to switching, alongside the weaker flavour and unreliability of alternative devices”.
The planned research aims to answer the following main questions:
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of disposable e-cigarettes for adults who are attempting to or have quit smoking, and how may this vary across level of socio-economic status?
- Do disposables offer any specific advantages over other e-cigarettes and/or NRTs?
- Is there an association between the uptake of disposables by adults who are attempting to quit or have quit smoking, and level of socio-economic status?
- What impact could regulations (including reducing accessibility, appeal, availability, or a total ban) of disposables have on adults who are attempting to quit or have quit smoking, and how may this vary across level of socio-economic status?
The project is expected to run for 3 months, with a due termination date of March next year. CRUK says it may consider a longer period of time for the study, but can it afford to with the pressure currently being placed on Parliament?
References:
- Thirlway F, Neve K, and Champion T. E-cigarette packaging in context: a qualitative study in deprived areas of the role of packaging in e-cigarette purchasing and use. 2023; awaiting publication [CRUK commissioned research]
Photo Credit:
Photo by Hans-Peter Gauster on Unsplash
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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