A survey of 12,000 adults for Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) found some 1.5 million vapers are now ex-smokers, compared with 1.3 million who still use tobacco.
However, ASH stated that the message that vaping was much less harmful than smoking was still yet to get through to all smokers. Some 9mn still smoke in the UK despite a big rise in e-cigarette use.
In 2012, there were 700,000 vapers in the UK; now there are 2.9mn. The main reason ex-smokers give for vaping is to help them stop smoking. Current smokers say they do it principally to reduce the amount they smoke.
Scientists say evidence suggests that the risks of exposure to toxins for e-cigarette users are likely to be low – and much lower than with tobacco.
Deborah Arnott, the campaigning health charity’s chief executive, said the figures on vapers who had quit smoking were “excellent news” but added that the rate of people switching to electronic versions had peaked. “The rapid growth in e-cigarette use has come to an end,” she said.
This is owing to more than a third of smokers having still never tried e-cigarettes, as a result of concerns about their safety and addictiveness. However, research suggests that 26% of people think e-cigarettes are more – or as equally – harmful as smoking tobacco while only 13% believe they are a lot less harmful.
“It’s very important smokers realise that vaping is much, much less harmful than smoking,” Arnott continued.
People who combine electronic and standard cigarette smoking are still being exposed to the cancer-causing substances in tobacco smoke, increasing their risk of lung cancers, bronchitis and other diseases, although Public Health England believes levels of nicotine in e-cigarettes are unlikely to pose any significant health risk.