TEENAGERS WHO USE ECIGARETTES FOUR TIMES MORE LIKELY TO START SMOKING
DAILY MAIL, 24 August, 2017 Teenagers who use electronic cigarettes are four times more likely to go on to smoke tobacco, researchers have found.
The study is the first UK evidence that ‘vaping’ (using e-cigarettes) may act as a ‘gateway’ to smoking - a finding that will fuel the ongoing row about the benefits and dangers of e-cigarettes.
E-cigarettes contain a liquid form of nicotine that is heated into vapour to be inhaled, avoiding the harm caused by tobacco smoke.
Around 3million adults in Britain have used e-cigarettes in the decade or so that they have been on the market.health experts agree that the devices are much safer than smoking tobacco – and the gadgets are thought to have helped 22,000 people quit smoking each year.
Teenagers who use electronic cigarettes are four times more likely to go on to smoke tobacco, researchers have found
Public health experts in the UK view the devices as a crucial tool in the fight against tobacco, and plans are in place to eventually make them available on prescription through the NHS.BUT others are concerned about unresolved safety concerns and are particularly worried about their use among young people.
These fears have been inflamed by a series of studies from the US which have warned many teenagers use the gadgets, attracted by the exotic flavours on offer - and that they are more likely to ‘graduate’ to smoking tobacco later.
Doctors in the UK have repeatedly insisted there is no evidence this is also the case in this country.
But the new study, published in the BMJ journal Tobacco Control, suggests for the first time that the ‘robust association’ between vaping and smoking exists in this country as well.experts led by the University of Leeds examined survey responses from 2,836 pupils from 20 schools in England at the age of 13 and 14, and again a year later, when they were 14 and 15. Among those who had never smoked but had tried an e-cigarette, 34 per cent tried smoking tobacco over the year.
Among the group who had not smoked and never used an e-cigarette, only 9 per cent tried tobacco. The researchers, however, pointed out that they only asked whether the pupils had experimented with tobacco meaning some of them may have only tried it once.
Study leader Professor Mark Conner of the University of Leeds said: ‘The findings suggest that among the teenagers who had never smoked, the use of e-cigarettes was a strong predicator that within 12 months they would have tried a conventional cigarette.‘it is impossible to say if these young people were just experimenting with cigarettes or were becoming more regular smokers.’