U.S. & UK Vaping Rates Similar Among Youth & Young Adults

 

I have previously commented on the so-called American teen vaping “epidemic”.  Using federal data, I have shown how the CDC and the FDA exaggerate the magnitude of vaping, portraying a fake crisis (here, here, here, here, here, here and here).  This post compares the prevalence of vaping among young people in the United States and the UK.  In the latter country, e-cigarettes have been welcomed and endorsed by the public health establishment as effective quit-smoking, life-saving aids, and there has been a noticeable absence of the U.S.-style crisis scaremongering.

The chart on the left shows the prevalence of vaping in the U.S. and UK among youth and young adults age 16 to 24 years from 2014 to 2019, and 18-24 years in 2020.  Note that prevalence was the same in both countries in 2014, and was higher in the UK over the next three years.  Prevalence spiked in the U.S. in 2018 and 2019, but by 2020 both countries had similar rates. 

The data for the two countries are fairly similar, the biggest difference being how American and British authorities, and the media, have responded.  British authorities have consistently spoken the truth about vaping since 2011 (here, here, here, here and here), and today Britain’s Department of Health helps smokers switch from combustibles to vapor.  Their American counterparts, however, have been on a crusade to eliminate these vastly safer cigarette substitutes, even falsely suggesting that nicotine in e-cigarettes will cause irreversible brain damage in children. Tobacco prohibitionists appear to be ignorant of the fact that their warnings and advertisements might actually spark the “epidemic”.

 

 

Notes on the chart’s numbers.  The British annual rates are averaged from four quarterly surveys from the Smoking Toolkit Study (here), which set the age ranges; current vapers were using e-cigarettes at the time of the surveys.  The American rates are a weighted combination of data from National Youth Tobacco Surveys (16-17 year olds) and the National Health Interview Surveys (18-24 year olds).  Current vaping in the former was 20-30 days in the past month; and every day or some days in the latter.   

 

UK Favors E-Cigarettes, Scores Major Smoking Reduction; Anti-Vaping Ireland Sees Smoking Rates Unchanged

There is, as I have noted (here), a stark contrast between British government and medical authorities’ support for e-cigarettes and vaping, and the demonization of same by most of the American public health community.  A similar clash of positions exists between the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.

The British blogger Dick Puddlecote observes (here) that the UK and Ireland are “nearest cultural neighbours, so closely aligned [that] we that we don't even enforce passport requirements between the two countries.  The British and the Irish are about as good a comparison for ecological purposes as there can possibly be.  And, as [British Member of Parliament Sir Kevin] Barron said, the only difference between UK policy and Irish policy is that over here our government cautiously welcomes new nicotine products whereas in Ireland they don't.”

Puddlecote underscores: “In the UK smoking rates have nosedived, while in Ireland they have barely shifted.”

I have verified that statement by reviewing government data.  The UK’s Office for National Statistics reported that smoking prevalence was 20% in 2012, after stalling during the six previous years (here).  However, between 2012 and 2017, the rate fell to 15% (here). 

Ireland started out in 2012 at nearly the same prevalence, 22% (here).  But five years later it was unchanged (here), according to the Ireland Department of Health.

The difference in smoking reduction in these neighboring countries is extraordinary.  As Puddlecote observes, “this deserves more attention…You just have to wonder why the tobacco control industry and other politicians, both sides of the Irish Sea, have been so silent about it.”

Indeed.   

United Kingdom Doubles Down on Support for Tobacco Harm Reduction

The United Kingdom Department of Health’s new position statement (here), “Towards a Smokefree Generation,” is, as Clive Bates wrote (here), “probably the first significant government policy paper anywhere that recognises and pursues the opportunities of tobacco harm reduction, rather than defining these technologies as a threat to be suppressed.  For that, the Department of Health and its allies deserve considerable credit.”

Indeed.

British health authorities have been telling smokers the truth about vaping since 2011 (as I have noted here, here, here and here), and British smokers have listened – the UK’s vaping population has ballooned to 2.9 million (here), while smoking has significantly declined.  In fact, a Public Health England official recently reported (here) that the UK smoking rate is now the second lowest in the European Union, after SWEDEN!

Meanwhile, the U.S. persists in advocating for a “tobacco-free society” and a “tobacco endgame,” demonizing smoke-free products with untruths and giving continuing life to urban anti-vaping myths.  The UK paper underscores this stark contrast.

“Towards a Smokefree Generation” sets forth the facts about e-cigarettes’ relative safety:

“… the evidence is increasingly clear that e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful to health than smoking tobacco.”

The UK Department of Health promises to help smokers make the switch:

“The government will seek to support consumers in stopping smoking and adopting the use of less harmful nicotine products. Public Health England has produced guidance for employers and organisations looking to introduce policies around e-cigarettes and vaping in public and recommend such policies to be evidence-based.”

The paper dismisses the unfounded claim that second-hand vapor is a health threat:

“Public Health England recommends that e-cigarette use is not covered by smokefree legislation and should not routinely be included in the requirements of an organisation’s smokefree policy.”

Additionally, the document invites the introduction of new tobacco harm reduction products, an apparent reference to products like Philip Morris International’s heat-not-burn iQOS:

“… there has been the development and very recent introduction of novel tobacco products that claim to reduce the harm of smoking. We welcome innovation that will reduce the harms caused by smoking and will evaluate whether products such as novel tobacco products have a role to play in reducing the risk of harm to smokers.”

Concluding, the UK pledges:

“Public Health England will continue to provide smokers and the public with clear, evidence based and accurate information on the relative harm of nicotine, e-cigarettes, other nicotine delivery systems and smoked tobacco, to enable informed decision-making.”

American health authorities, are you listening?