One in Four Smokers Distrust Vaping

Believe it or not, nearly a quarter of smokers still insist that they will not consider vaping as an alternative to vaping purely because they don’t feel that they can trust it. Many of this 25% till believe that vaping is just as bad for you as smoking, or worse, despite numerous public health campaigns, doctor advice, researchers and more.

The research shows the results of a study including eight hundred and forty-four smokers and one thousand, one hundred and fifty-six ex-smoker. The study was commissioned by Yorkshire Cancer Research and found that on average a smoker, smoking for twenty-two years, will have been smoking twelve cigarettes a day. From a cost point of view alone smoking is prohibitive and the study noted that if smokers switched to vaping they could save as much as £338 per year on average. Despite this and public awareness about the damaging effects of smoking the researchers still found an element of distrust which led to so many stating that they would not consider e cigarettes instead.

What Has Caused These Negative Opinions

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion however it is worth thinking about where these opinions come from, especially if there is misinformation behind some of them.

A Cultural Thing

For some people, smoking is something their parents did or their grandparents. Their social group might smoke. They might live in an area with a high number of smokers. Just because people have “always done it” does not make “it” a good idea. Lead paint was always used and asbestos in building works, and we all know how that has turned out. It does show however that there are a number of reasons why people might be determined to stick with their smoking habit.

Media Misreporting

No-one will be shocked by the fact that on occasion newspapers, online and TV reporting may sometimes exaggerate a point/fib in order to gain ratings or readers. Clickbait is a scourge when it comes to sharing fake news. If you look for news stories regarding vaping you are bound to find sensationalist headlines about how vaping is dangerous, how it is worse than smoking or that it will make you grow a second head. It is nonsense. The London Fire Brigade even state that they prefer vaping to cigarettes as the damage, destruction, injury and even death they have witnesses due to smoking is significant. “My E Cigarette Blew Up” stories make great headlines however they rarely tell the full truth, for example, that the reason it “blew up” is that it was being used in a way that does not match the instructions given by the manufacturer.

The vaping community can’t stop these types of articles. They sell papers and will gain a website clicks, likes and follows. What we can do is work hard to spread the truth about vaping from verified and reputable sources so that there is more than one side to these stories out there.

Is Vaping Harmful?

Public Health England has made it very clear that they do not find vaping harmful. In fact, their 2018 vaping review 

announced that they officially consider vaping to be at least 95% less harmful than tobacco cigarettes. PHE are keen to advocate for the use of e cigarettes as official cessation devices, something they hope they will be able to get the government to push through.

PHE are not the only organisation to approve of vaping and e cigarettes. NHS trusts, scientists, researchers, some MPs, and many health-orientated charities such as Cancer Research UK encourage smokers to give up smoking by switching to vaping if not switching means staying a smoker. Needless to say, any and all of these organisation will have done their homework before urging the public to consider switching from tobacco to vapour.

In Conclusion

It is worrying that so many smokers are still suspicious of vaping and as such are reluctant to switch over to e cigarettes. What this means that some smokers who want to quit smoking for health reasons or indeed any reasons might not as other methods of giving up, i.e. Nicotine Replacement Therapy simply don’t work for them. It might be that vaping could be the key to helping them give up smoking successfully but if they aren’t willing to for any of the reasons above or their own, they cannot enjoy the benefits,

It is important to remember that an adult smoker does not need or want to be lectured to about quitting smoking, vaping or anything else. The fact that a quarter of smokers are so suspicious of vaping is unfortunate however the best way to help is to simply share articles like these and support public health campaigns and moves towards making vaping more accessible.