Study concludes concerns that vapes are not a gateway to smoking for young people

A new study published on 21 September, in the British Public Health Research Journal, has found that at a population level – e-cigarettes do not increase smoking rates.

The research concluded that alternative nicotine-delivery products (ANDs), which includes electronic cigarettes, are replacing cigarettes rather than encouraging smoking.

The authors are unequivocal in their conclusion that the claim e-cigarettes promote smoking is ‘unfounded’.

While the ability to which ANDs can reduce smoking rates overall remains unclear from this piece of research, the fact countries such as New Zealand have seen smoking rates decline rapidly following the introduction of vaping products is telling.

The true impact of vaping was recently summed up by Ben Youdan from ASH who has said, “In the last two years, the daily smoking rate for wāhine Māori has dropped by one-third”, in 25 years of working in this field, he has never seen anything like it, and it is almost entirely a result of wāhine Māori switching to vaping.

“In 2017 less than 1% of New Zealanders were vaping and according to a recent KPMG survey, tobacco consumption remained stubbornly high until 2019 when vaping numbers reached 3.3% and for the first time New Zealand saw a meaningful drop in tobacco consumption,” says Jonathan Devery, Chair, the Vaping Industry Association of New Zealand (VIANZ).

“This was followed by an increase in vaping rates to 8.3% in 2022 when New Zealand embraced vaping as a quit-smoking tool which coincided with an even more rapid drop in tobacco consumption rates and health experts attributing the 31% decline in smoking over just three years, to the disruptive force of vaping.

“This is yet another study adding to the growing wealth of medical research demonstrating the positive impact vaping is having on populations globally,” concludes Devery. “Not only does vaping not increase smoking rates, it is starting to have a reductive impact on smoking rates as demonstrated by Aotearoa’s 8% smoking rate. Importantly, this piece of reputable research strongly dispels the myth that vaping is a gateway to smoking for young people.”