A new study commissioned by ASH

The e-cigarette community has been stating for a while that e-cigarettes are not a gateway to smoking, but are in fact a gateway out of smoking. Science has now proven the e-cigarette community to be correct, and that e-cigarettes are not the gateway to smoking many feared.

The online version of the Daily Mail has dedicated an entire page to the positive findings of a study by YouGov, commissioned by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) to look at electronic cigarette usage in the UK.

The study found that users of e-cigarettes in the UK have trebled in the past 2 years, from 700,000 in 2012, to 2 million in 2014, with the number of non-smokers using e-cigarettes considered ‘negligible’.

The study found that more than half of ex smokers questioned had tried e-cigarettes, 51.7%, compared to only 8% of ex smokers that were asked in 2010. Over a third of British adults believe that electronic cigarettes are good for public health.

The study also looked at the type of devices that vapers are using and found 47% use re chargeable e-cigs with refillable cartridges, 41% prefer rechargeable e-cigarettes with tanks, and only 8% use disposable e-cigarettes.

Deborah Arnott, Chief Executive of ASH said, 'While it is important to control the advertising of electronic cigarettes to make sure children and non-smokers are not being targeted, there is no evidence from our research that e-cigarettes are acting as a gateway into smoking.'

A separate survey called The Smoking Toolkit Study, carried out in England, found that e-cigarette sales were overtaking those of nicotine replacement products such as patches and gums.