CAN E-CIGARETTES HELP YOU QUIT SMOKING?

CASAA–The Consumer Advocates for Smokefree Alternatives Association– recently conducted a survey that reflects a big win for the e-cigarette industry in the face of increasing restrictions and junk studies. The survey addressed the question of whether e-cigarettes can help you quit smoking. Some 20,000 e-cigarette smokers were surveyed and 87% of them said they were able to completely drop combustible cigarettes after they started vaping.

Of course the CASAA survey has received very little attention in media because journalists were too busy sharing results from a distorted meta-analysis posted in the Lancet that claimed e-cigs made it harder for people to kick the habit. What the media failed to mention was that dozens of leading scientists have criticised the study as being incomplete and “intentionally misleading.” This isn’t the first time the media has counted on fear-mongering to manipulate the public; they do it all the time with stories about e-cig flavors appealing to kids. This trend of the media disproportionately sharing anti-vape news, but overlooking pro-vape studies is gives a new meaning to the word sensationalism.

Can e-cigarettes help you quit smoking? Since you didn’t see it on any big news channels, let’s revisit the results of the CASAA survey at a glance. Of the 20,000 adult e-cigarette users surveyed:

87% quit smoking cigarettes just a few days after they started vaping

67 % switched to vaping a few days after they began vaping

72% of those who quit smoking said different vape flavours helped them quit

Of the available e-liquid flavours on the market, fruit and fruit drink flavours appealed to 83% of participants, and dessert and candy flavours were favoured by 76% of participants.

This goes hand-in-hand with a recent study by nature.com that found e-cigarette use can help prevent post-cessation weight gain. The more vaping advocates share these types of stories and spread the word, the easier it will be for the general public to stay aware that e-cigarettes are a smart alternative to smoking.

E-cigarette Advertising and Children

Another recent study in Britain debunked the media and big tobacco’s outcry that e-cigarette flavours and advertisements influence teens and children to start smoking and vaping. The study, conducted by Cambridge University, concluded that, “Exposure to adverts for e-cigarettes does not seem to increase the appeal of tobacco smoking in children.”

Even the members of the study group who were exposed to ads for flavoured e-cigarettes showed “no evidence that exposing English children aged 11–16 years to adverts for candy-like flavoured and non-flavoured e-cigarettes increased the low appeal of smoking tobacco [or] the low appeal of using e-cigarettes.”