The United States is continuing to crack down on rules governing e-cigs, but one drug abuse researcher, Dr. Carrie Wade, says US lawmakers need to realize that vaping is a huge help in the fight to stop smoking.

“As a harm-reduction tool, e-cigarettes should be available, even promoted, to current smokers as an alternative to traditional cigarettes,” said Wade.

“History has proven that abstinence approaches do not work: Teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection rates did not decline in states that emphasized an abstinence-only sex education curriculum and criminalization of heroin use did not stop overdose deaths,” she added.

FDA figures estimate cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the US.

But this figure is now likely to be much lower in the UK, with research showing that for the first time in this European country, more than half of the country’s vapers have given up smoking tobacco since using e-cigs.

“This year’s ASH survey finds that around 1.5 million vapers are ex-smokers, for the first time a larger number than those who continue to smoke,” said Professor Ann McNeill, Professor of Tobacco Addiction at King’s College London.

“This is encouraging news as we know that vapers who continue to smoke continue to be exposed to cancer-causing substances. The message for the 1.3 million vapers who still smoke is that they need to go further and switch completely,” she said.

“It’s very important smokers realize that vaping is much, much less harmful than smoking,” added Deborah Arnott, Chief Executive of public health charity ASH

Scroll down on our reviews page to read how ILoveEcigs products have helped smokers quit the habit.

Approximately 2.8 million adults in Britain currently use e-cigarettes, but an undercover investigation has highlighted that this figure is likely to include more than just ex-smokers.

Almost nine in 10 of Britain’s vape shops are willing to sell e-cigarettes to non-smokers, and although this is not against the law, it is against the voluntary code of conduct, which states that vape shops should not knowingly sell vape products to anyone who does not or has not smoked before.

Investigating 100 of an estimated 1,700 vape shops in the UK, 87% were found to be either knowingly or unwittingly prepared to sell e-cigarettes to people who have never smoked or vaped.

Approximately 50% of vape stores did not ask customers if they had smoked before, and around 75% of those that did still encouraged non-smokers to start vaping.

Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) chief executive Shirley Cramer said e-cigarettes must be seen as “evidence-based quitting aids – rather than lifestyle products” and should be aimed at smokers.

“We applaud the IBVTA (Independent British Vape Trade Association) code of conduct, which is in line with this principle,” she added.

“However, as our investigation shows, the majority of vape shops in the UK are not adhering to these important standards. We are keen to support the sector to strengthen their codes of best practice, and for individual retailers to sign up and ultimately adhere to them.”

Richard Hyslop, chief executive of the Independent British Vape Trade Association, said: “Vape products should not be marketed to non-smokers or those under the age of 18.

Do you believe that retailers should be responsible for confirming they only sell vaping products to actual smokers? Should the practice of selling vaping products to non-smokers be considered illegal? Tell us what you think.  Comment below or tweet us @ILoveEcigs

A new survey published in the April Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine has highlighted that many US employees are unclear about the e-cigarette policy at their place of work and whether that policy is different for vaping and for smoking.

The survey was conducted to better assess the perceptions employees had of their company’s smoking and vaping policies and included responses from 456 employed smokers and vapers.

The main response was that companies had the same policy for smoking and vaping, and if there was a difference, the most restrictive policies were placed upon smoking, as opposed to vaping.

Around 12.5 percent of respondents were unaware if their company had any policy related to vaping. Approximately 20 percent reported that employers offered them smoking cessation resources.

While policies around smoking are still a little unclear, policies around vaping are often non-existent, and there is little information available about how the devices can help smokers quit a habit which research continues to show is extremely harmful to health.

“Organizations should not consider smoking and vaping to be the same when setting policy,” the authors said.

“Employers should ensure organizational vaping policies are present and clear to all employees.”

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New research has found that smokers prefer e-cigarettes to quit smoking.

The brief, which was authored by RTI International, the University of North Carolina and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office on Smoking and Health, used a nationally representative online survey of 15,943 adult smokers who tried to quit smoking during the past three months, to see which methods they preferred.

The results showed that e-cigs were more popular as a quit aid for partial or complete substitution (2.2 percent), compared with nicotine patches/gum (0.8 percent) or other prescription medicines (0.4 percent).

Telephone quit lines, which the US government have poured millions of dollars into, were rarely used as a quitting aid, making up just 0.02 percent.

After this survey, there is even more pressure on the US government to follow suit behind Britain, where e-cigs have been the leading quit-smoking aid since 2013.

The UK Royal College of Physicians clearly stated their position on the matter, stating: “the hazard to health arising from long-term vapor inhalation from the e-cigarettes available today is unlikely to exceed 5 percent of the harm from smoking tobacco.”

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The New Zealand Government plans to make e-cigs legal in order to reach their target of becoming smoke-free by 2025.

“Scientific evidence on the safety of e-cigarettes is still developing but there’s a general consensus that vaping is much less harmful than smoking,” said Associate Health Minister, Nick Wagner.

“This is an opportunity to see if restricted access to e-cigarettes and e-liquid can help lower our smoking rates, reduce harm and save lives.” she said.

There will be new rules put in place for all e-cigarettes, regardless of whether or not they contain nicotine. The rules include restricting sales to those 18 years and over and prohibiting vaping in indoor workplaces and other areas where smoking is banned under the Smoke-free Environments Act.

The tax that applies to cigarettes would not be added on to e-cigarettes, and strict advertising rules will limit the exposure of the products to children and young people who are unlikely to smoke otherwise.

The Ministry of Health says there is “emerging evidence that e‑cigarette use may substantially reduce the burden of disease caused by smoking”.

What is your opinion on the New Zealand Government’s decision? Share your thoughts in the comments below or tweet us @ILoveEcigs

 

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who has been chosen to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by President Trump, has refused to commit to banning flavored e-cigs when confronted with the argument that potential flavors that could lure young people into experimentation.

During Gottlieb’s confirmation hearing, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash named e-cigarette flavors when questioning him: “Gummy bears? Cookies and cream?”

Although Gottlieb admitted that Sen. Patty Murray was raising some imperative questions about whether flavored e-cigs could be a gateway to adolescent smoking, he said:

“I think a properly constructed and overseen regulatory process should have the capacity, under the authorities Congress gave the agency, to make these determinations.”

“I recognize there is a line here somewhere, and I don’t know where that line gets drawn. I think that line needs to get drawn by people who are experts in evaluating that science, and I want to support that,” he said.

As FDA commissioner, Gottlieb would oversee the regulation of pharmaceuticals, tobacco, medical devices, food safety, cosmetics and other areas of human and animal health.

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According to a recent report from the Office of National Statistics, 56.7% of smokers across the UK decided to quit smoking traditional cigarettes in 2015, which is the highest proportion since 1974.

There is evidence to suggest that the reason for this cigarette decline is due to a recent vaping boom, with UK residents switching to vaping faster than any other country in Europe.

Approximately one UK resident makes the switch from traditional cigarettes to e-cigs every four minutes.

British online retailer, Vapourlites, conducted some research on the UK cities with the most e-cig outlets, finding the Scottish capital of Edinburgh had the most with a total of 17 vape stores. Large cities, London and Birmingham each had 10 stores, and out of 68 cities analysed, only 13 didn’t have e-cig stores within a 2-mile radius.

Charles Bloom, director of Vapourlites, said: “The emergence of vaping outlets in major cities is highly beneficial – not just to those in the business, but to everyone who is struggling with addiction. It is highly important to maintain choice: people should not feel confined in how they choose to cope with their addiction. Hopefully, the example set by leading cities like Edinburgh, London and Birmingham will encourage cities across the globe to follow suit.” 

If you want to quit smoking with vaping too, don’t forget to check out our ultimate guide to lower your nicotine levels!

We provide premium and high quality products such as our Logic Pro Advanced Vapor System and our Logic Disposable Electronic Cigarettes. Order yours today!

How do you think the number of e-cig stores in the UK compares to where you live? We’d love to hear your thoughts

Public health researchers have confirmed that e-cigs are not a gateway to smoking cigarettes, as some misleading studies suggest.

The paper, which was produced by researchers from the University at Buffalo and the University of Michigan writing in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, focused on the risks for moving from e-cigs to traditional cigarettes.

“There is little evidence that those who have never smoked cigarettes or never used other tobacco products and first try e-cigarettes will later move on to cigarette usage with great frequency or daily, regular smoking,” said Lynn Kozlowski, the paper’s lead author.

The research paper also highlights shortcomings in studies that show a link between e-cig use and subsequent smoking.

Some studies use misleading measures for what is actually considered smoking. “Measures of ‘at least one puff in the past six months’ can mean little more than the experimenting vaper was curious how cigarettes compared,” said Lynn Kozlowski, the paper’s lead author.

Authors of the study say that more accurate information needs to be provided to the public on the health risks of e-cigs versus traditional cigarettes.

“From the best evidence to date, e-cigarettes are much less dangerous than cigarettes. The public has become confused about this,” Kozlowski added.

If you want to quit smoking with vaping too, don’t forget to check out our ultimate guide to lower your nicotine levels!

We provide premium and high quality products such as our Logic Pro Advanced Vapor System and our Logic Disposable Electronic Cigarettes. Order yours today!

Does vaping lead to smoking? We want to hear your opinion. Comment below or tweet us @ILoveEcigs

A new study published in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology has predicted that by 2050 the 32% of smokers in the UK that would otherwise have continued smoking will have made the switch to e-cigs.

The prediction was made after scientists at British American Tobacco developed a model which looks at a number of possible scenarios that may occur between 2000 and 2050. There is a baseline scenario in which e-cigarettes are not on the market, and a counterfactual scenario, based on the current trends in which both cigarettes and e-cigs are available to consumers.

The scientists used past trends to help predict the future, which, according to Dr. James Murphy, Head of Reduced Risk Substantiation at British American Tobacco, “is an informative way of assessing population health effects when epidemiological data are not available.”

“Our model shows that when e-cigarettes are available, the effect of ‘normalisation’, through for example, the visibility and familiarization of e-cigarettes versus the ‘de-normalization’ of cigarettes, means that fewer people start smoking and there is a higher rate of successful quit attempts–smokers quit earlier and, although many still relapse, there are significantly more former smokers,” Murphy added.

The model also takes into account the characteristics and behaviors or consumers, such as when they started smoking or whether they are a dual user, are represented through a feedback system, as is the potential effect of smoking normalization on starting and cessation rates. Factors including consumer age, gender, and aging are also taken into account.

“Our results show an overall beneficial effect of e-cigarettes on a population, reducing smoking prevalence and smoking-related deaths,” says Murphy.

These results coincide with reports such as the one published by Public Health England, saying that the current expert estimate is that using e-cigarettes is around 95% safer than smoking cigarettes.

Hear from our other iloveecigs.com customers who have already made the switch have to say here.

According to research from business consultancy firm EY (formerly known as Ernst & Young), one person has switched from traditional smoking to vaping every four minutes in the UK.

There are approximately two million British people vaping, (a total of 4.2 per cent of adults), and this number continues to grow. This is also the highest of any country in Europe, with just over 3 per cent of adults in France using vape products.

This growth of e-cig products in the UK is most likely down to the clear health benefits of vaping over smoking, which many public health groups have highlighted. For example, a recent study by the University College London found that switching to e-cigs is far safer and less toxic than smoking conventional tobacco cigarettes.

“The UK has one of the most progressive regulatory environments for e-cigarettes and that’s reflected in consumer uptake and category growth,” said Kingsley Wheaton, managing director for Next Generation Products, at British American Tobacco.

“The UK government has created an environment which enables consumers to be informed about the products, have access to them and allows manufacturers to innovate and provide quality vaping products,” he added.

The e-cig market in the UK is estimated at £6.1bn, which could reach £12bn by the end of 2020.

If you want to quit smoking with vaping too, don’t forget to check out our ultimate guide to lower your nicotine levels!

We provide premium and high quality products such as our Logic Pro Advanced Vapor System and our Logic Disposable Electronic Cigarettes. Order yours today!

What do you think of the progression in the UK’s e-cig market vs that of the US? We’d love to hear your comments below, or you can tweet us @ILoveEcigs