UKVIA Comments on ASH Findings

Further, the UK Vaping Industry Association says, Action on Smoking and Health’s findings reveal the main motivations for vaping amongst current smokers included to cut down on smoking, protect others from the risk of second-hand smoke or to help them quit.

The leading public health charity also reported that misperceptions around vaping are at an all-time high, with 50% of smokers wrongly believing vaping to be as or more harmful when compared with smoking. The UK Vaping Industry Association called this ‘alarming’.

The increase in misunderstanding the relative safety of vaping comes despite the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities maintaining that vaping poses a ‘small fraction of the risks’ - and a raft of trusted health organisations, including the NHS, Cancer Research UK and the Royal College of Physicians all acknowledge that vaping is a safer alternative.

The new data also found that, while current and ever use of vaping amongst young people has decreased between 2023 and 2024, under 18s are still accessing these age-gated products.

UK Vaping Industry Association Director General John Dunne said: “The latest figures from ASH UK once again highlight the stop smoking credentials of vaping for adults and reinforce the instrumental role these products have and must continue to play in stubbing out the health burden of smoking for good.

“That said, if vaping is to reach its full potential in supporting the smokefree ambition, action must be taken to address growing misperceptions about the less harmful alternative which are no doubt being exacerbated by mainstream media scare stories and some mixed messaging in the public health sphere. This could be achieved through the introduction of national public education campaigns which arm adults with the best, science-backed information to help them quit.”

He continued: “While the new data shows a decrease in current and ever youth vaping, no one under the age of 18 should be using vaping products. The UKVIA firmly believes that a fit-for-purpose vape licensing framework, which would generate upwards of £50 million in annual self-sustaining funding, is the best path forward to arming trading standards with the tools they need to bring the hammer down on rogue retailers and cut the supply of youth vaping off at the source.”

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

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Dave 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.