E-cigarettes are now the most popular way for British smokers to try to quit their addiction, according to a study published today for No Smoking Day.
The survey is part of an ongoing project called The Smoking Toolkit Study, which questions around 1,700 adults who smoke in England every month. It demonstrates that by 2015, about 1.6 million smokers were using e-cigarettes.
The researchers, from University College London, UK, say that e-cigarettes have overtaken licensed nicotine replacement therapies such as gum or skin patches as the most popular method to stop smoking.
Nearly a third of England’s eight million smokers tried to quit in 2015.
Researcher Professor Robert West says: "E-cigarettes have overtaken more traditional methods as the most widely used support for smokers wanting to quit.
"Their impact on public health at present comes from attracting people who would otherwise have tried to stop without any useful form of support. We estimate that e-cigarettes have probably helped around 20,000 smokers to quit each year, that wouldn’t have otherwise.
"We can do much better in encouraging more smokers to try to stop and ensure that they are well informed about the best ways of succeeding. The strongest evidence is for use of a prescription medicine plus specialist behavioural support but e-cigarettes can be helpful for smokers who do not want to use professional support."
However, Mike Knapton, of the British Heart Foundation, points out: "Although e-cigarettes are much less harmful than smoking cigarettes, there is no doubt that more research is needed into the potential long term effects of the use of them."
* Meanwhile cancer specialists warned that smoking would continue to take an enormous toll on health unless the UK speeds up the rate of people giving up the habit.
The study by the UK Health Forum and Cancer Research UK says that on current trends just 10% of people will be smokers by 2035.
It warns that this could still mean 1.35 million cases of smoking-related illnesses over the next two decades, including 580,600 cases of cancer.
E-cigarettes: an evidence update A report commissioned by Public Health England
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