Study: E-cigarettes ‘do not encourage child smoking’

17 SEPTEMBER, 2014 01:51 PM | BY LALAH-SIMONE SPRINGER
Study: E-cigarettes ‘do not encourage child smoking’

A study unveiled today has found no evidence that electronic cigarettes encourage children to take up smoking tobacco.
Over 4,000 11-18 year olds were surveyed in 2013 and 2014 about their attitudes to smoking and electronic cigarette use.
The study, revealed for the first time at the Public Health England conference in Coventry found that experimenting with electronic cigarettes is “closely linked” to current smoking habits.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) compiled the data, which was analysed by Public Health England.
They found that children and young people who were current smokers were more likely to have experimented with e-cigarettes than those who had never smoked. Most regular or occasional e-cigarette users (90%) were already smokers or ex-smokers.
Most young people (91%) have never tried an electronic cigarette and 2% of children who have not tried tobacco have ever tried an e-cigarette.
There were no children recorded in the study who were regular users of e-cigarettes but had never smoked tobacco.
In 2013 94% of young people said they had no intention to smoke or ‘vape’ [use electronic cigarettes]. In 2014 there was a slight decline to 90%.
Only 1% of young people said they thought they might use electronic cigarettes in the future and the rest were unsure.

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