Will Bill Worsen Perceptions?

Dr Sarah Jackson took to Twitter/X last week to say: “Messaging that clearly communicates that vaping is less harmful than smoking may also be helpful in encouraging non-daily smokers to quit completely. Most smokers don’t know this, which may discourage them from switching completely to vaping.”

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is introducing measures that treat vaping the same as smoking: increasing restrictions on where people can vape, restricting displays and packaging design, and potentially eliminating popular flavours that have been proven to help smokers to transition away from tobacco. It is difficult to see how any of this won’t act in a way that worsens the public’s perceptions of the most efficient tobacco harm reduction tool.

In February, Dr Jackson released findings of a project that looked at how perceptions have changed over a 10-year period.

‘Trends in Harm Perceptions of E-Cigarettes vs Cigarettes Among Adults Who Smoke in England, 2014-2023’ was written by Dr Sarah Jackson, Dr Harry Tattan-Birch, Dr Katherine East, Dr Sharon Cox, Dr Lion Shahab and Dr Jamie Brown, and published in Jama Network Open.

The team looked at survey responses from 28,393 smokers in England between 2014 and 2023 and discovered public perceptions of e-cigarettes had worsened considerably over the past decade, with an overall increase in the perceived harm of e-cigarettes since 2021.

Lead author Dr Sarah Jackson (UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care) said: “These findings have important implications for public health. The risks of vaping are much lower than the risks of smoking and this isn’t being clearly communicated to people.

“This misperception is a health risk in and of itself, as it may discourage smokers from substantially reducing their harm by switching to e-cigarettes. It may also encourage some young people who use e-cigarettes to take up smoking for the first time, if they believe the harms are comparable.

“Better communication about the health risks is needed so that adults who smoke can make informed choices about the nicotine products they use.”

By 2023, only 19% of smokers who did not vape said they thought vaping was less harmful than smoking

Senior author Professor Jamie Brown (UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care) said: “E-cigarettes are novel and so have attracted much attention in the media, with news articles often overstating their risks to health compared with smoking. There is relatively little reporting about deaths caused by smoking, even though 75,000 people die as a result of it in England each year.

“The Government plans to offer one million smokers a free vaping starter kit alongside behavioural support to help them quit. This initiative may be undermined if many smokers are unwilling to try e-cigarettes because they wrongly believe them to be just as harmful as cigarettes or more so.”

Maybe the Government needs to have a rethink before it enacts some of the misguided measures contained within the Tobacco and Vapes Bill?

Photo Credit:

• Photo by Mathilda Khoo on Unsplash

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

View Articles

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.