WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Vaping Association (AVA), a leading advocate for the health benefits of electronic cigarettes, today reacted to new research results on e-cigarettes from the United Kingdom’s Smoking Toolkit Study (STS). The STS is a sophisticated monthly survey of a nationally representative sample of U.K. adults that tracks a number of key variables in order to provide timely and detailed information about smoking prevalence and behavior.
Included among the results released by Professor Robert West of the University College London:
* 30% of quit attempts are being made with e-cigarettes.
* In early-2013, e-cigarettes surpassed nicotine replacement therapy products such as the nicotine patch and gum as the most widely used quitting product.
* The growth of e-cigarettes is tied to both an increase in smokers making quit attempts and successful quitting.
* 30% of recent ex-smokers and 20% of smokers report being users of e-cigarettes.
* Smoking and the use of any nicotine product is declining.
* Use of e-cigarettes by never-smokers and long-term ex-smokers remains extremely rare.
Gregory Conley, President of the AVA, said:
“E-cigarettes are a disruptive technology that are impacting not only Big Tobacco, but also the pharmaceutical companies behind smoking cessation products like the patch and gum. These study results add to the growing body of evidence supporting e-cigarettes as an effective tool to help adult smokers break the habit.
“American anti-smoking activists should take note of the U.K.’s success with e-cigarettes. Notably, the largest anti-smoking charity in the U.K., Action on Smoking & Health, has supported vaping by smokers looking to quit and opposed calls to ban e-cigarettes where smoking is banned. Meanwhile, U.S. anti-smoking groups have been reflexively opposed to e-cigarettes and have sought to place sin taxes and excessive regulation on these smoke-free and tobacco-free products.”
About the American Vaping Association
The American Vaping Association is a nonprofit organization that advocates for fair and sensible regulation of vapor products, otherwise known as electronic cigarettes, with the goal of maximizing the number of adult smokers who use these products to quit smoking. The AVA was founded by Gregory Conley, a consumer and industry advocate with a long track record of advocating for vapor products dating back to 2010.
We are dedicated to educating the public and government officials about public health benefits offered by vapor products, which are battery-powered devices that heat a liquid nicotine or nicotine-free solution and create an inhalable vapor. The AVA is not a trade group and does not speak for any particular businesses, including our industry sponsors.
You can learn more about AVA and vaping by visiting the AVA website. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.