Public Health England independent evidence review
In 2015, an expert independent evidence review, by what was then Public Health England (PHE), concluded that e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful to health than tobacco and have the potential to help smokers quit – the latter being a fact that has been repeatedly verified with increasing clarity in each subsequent annual report to-date. The key findings of the review included the now well acknowledged statement that “e-cigarettes are around 95% less harmful than smoking”. [01]
In August 2019, an industry crisis began with the first of a spate of emerging lung injuries diagnosed in America, with an ill-informed link to vaping. The media began to create a narrative that put the vaping industry in the limelight with purported ‘blood’ on its hands.
The resulting false media outbreak here in the UK was unreliable, unfair, and unrealistic. The beginning of the EVALI crisis had commenced, with the US government quickly reacting to the news and instigating regulatory changes including federal flavour restrictions, restrictions on sales, as well as state and local bans on certain flavouring elements. All slowly unravelling a well-established emerging market both in the US and overseas, without any consideration of the comparatively stricter regulations in place for the UK vaping market.
Vitamin E Acetate
In December 2019, it was finally identified that the cause of the profoundly unfortunate hospitalisations and deaths were due to Vitamin E Acetate, found only within illicit THC vape products. A slow realisation began to establish that this crisis was not due to nicotine-containing vape products at all, but the damage to the industry had already been done.
As of February 2020, a total of 2,807 hospitalised EVALI cases had been reported, with 68 reported deaths confirmed. [02]
Fast forward to 2022 and vaping prevalence among adults in England was lower than smoking prevalence and an increase was observed from 2020 to 2021, from 6.9% to 7.1% and then another increase in 2022 to 8.3%. Quitting smoking is still the greatest reason for people vaping, with 27.9% using vape products to quit and 17.7% vaping to stay off smoking tobacco.
A government report published in February 2021 confirmed that quit attempts are more than 50% more likely to succeed if they include vaping alongside behavioural therapy. [03]
The 2022 ASH report
Despite the continued strong uptake in vaping, and more importantly the use of vaping to quit smoking – the perceptions of harm from vaping among smokers are increasingly out of line with the evidence. The 2022 ASH report “Use of e-cigarettes (vapes) among adults in Great Britain” reported that not knowing enough about e-cigarettes is the main reason for 13% of smokers not trying them, and a further 10% say their main reason was concern for the safety of e-cigarettes.
More importantly from 2016 to 2019, the proportion of adults who inaccurately believed that vaping is as, or more harmful than smoking hovered around one in four, with between 43% and 50% believing it was less harmful. [04] However, in 2020 the proportion believing it was more or equally harmful rose significantly to 37% with the proportion believing it to be less harmful falling to 39%.
Change in public perception
The likely driver for this change in public perception was the impact of the media coverage from the aforementioned EVALI crisis, compounded by more recent issues caused by unregulated disposable vapes hitting UK shores triggering controversy around youth access and a lack of knowledge about what chemicals are actually in the single-use devices.
A similar pattern can be seen among smokers’ perceptions of harm in 2022, with nearly a third (32%) believing vaping was more or equally harmful, and more than one in five (22%) saying they don’t know.
Increasingly incorrect perceptions among the public about the harms of vaping are preventing some smokers using vaping products to quit. The outbreak of vape-related lung illnesses has caused much confusion and concern which was not helped by the subsequent dramatic headlines, and knee-jerk reactions of politicians and authorities calling for total bans.
The Relative Vape Safety solution
Create a Relative Vape Safety portal that allows manufacturers to input their products safety data to compare with those of cigarettes to give a more definitive safety figure.
The 95% safer than smoking phrase released by PHE in 2019, has been used widely within the industry, however this is an extremely conservative estimate, and the likelihood is that the majority of products from reputable manufacturers exceed this figure.
Our portal allows manufacturers to input their mandatory toxicological and emissions data, which forms a part of the legal products registration process under the MHRA in-line with TPD and TRPR regulations. Once input, our patented calculator allows for the generation of an air-tight, accurate relative safety percentage, allowing for benchmarking against competitors and the industry at-large, but also as a silver bullet against claims of poor safety, and miseducation of the general public.
We want to create a vaping industry that can thrive for years to come, and truly achieve its potential for improving public health through tobacco harm reduction – with your partnership, you will join this movement and empower your business to excel for years to come by creating unshakeable trust from your customers.
References
02 – https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/severe-lung-disease.html#overview
03 – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vaping-in-england-evidence-update-february-2021
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“Vape Safety is the future of success for all vape brands. The easy-to-use portal allows you to upload your product information in seconds and download the results and certificates for both suppliers and customers.
The direct safety comparison between vape products and combustible cigarettes will assist in building public confidence and changing the outdated public perceptions that surround the industry.”
