The anti-vaping mob is trying to characterize vaping as a “gateway” to smoking — the exact opposite of the purpose of vaping.
This is a small and unreliable study — only 300 teens and all the data is self-reported (i.e., none of the data has been verified).
The media release is below.
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ADOLESCENTS WHO VAPE SIX TIMES MORE LIKELY TO SMOKE IN EARLY ADULTHOOD
Research has found an association between e-cigarette use in adolescents and the subsequent use of cigarettes, but according to a study published in the July 2016 Pediatrics (published online June 13) adolescents who report e-cigarette use had more than six times the odds of initiating cigarette use in early adulthood than those who had never vaped. The findings suggest that e-cigarette use may increase the risk of smoking during the transition to adulthood when smoking becomes legal (at age 18). Researchers evaluated 149 e-cigarette users in 11th and 12th grades and matched them with 154 who had never used e-cigarettes, all of whom filled out questionnaires about their nicotine use. Those who reported vaping were 6.17 times more likely to report initiating smoking an average of 16 months later. Interestingly, stronger associations between vaping at an earlier age and later smoking in participants who reported no intention of smoking suggests that e-cigarette use was not simply a marker for individuals who would have gone on to smoke regardless of e-cigarette use. Researchers concluded that follow-up is required to determine if e-cigarette use among the young—where vaping has become popular—will eventually lead to more established smoking patterns and increases in the diseases associated with smoking.
Hi VicB3,
I’d just like to thank you for your support and point you to this UK Government funded research information.
E-cigarettes: an evidence update.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/e-cigarettes-an-evidence-update
You’ll find many answers to the misinformation peddled by the MSM.
Yours Rex
I smoked for 40+ years 1 1/2 packs a day on average. Tried all the approved gums, patches, lozenges, drugs, multiple times each….big fail.
I have been vaping and completly smoke free for the past 6 years.
What the study omits (on purpose) is that while vaping rates have risen with the kids, the smoking rate has dropped substantially for the first time in decades.
@RexAlan
But Rex, you’re still enjoying it! And you have a selection of flavours, some of which actually taste good!! And it’s inexpensive!!! And you’re not buying an ‘Approved’ device!!!! Or being ‘Medically Supervised’ or given a prescription!!!! Heavens, we can’t have that. After all, think of all the specialists and company stockholders who aren’t making a dime. And besides, everybody knows that you’re too stupid to know what works for you!
(Sarcasm of course.)
There are enough anecdotal stories out there to suggest that Vaping is an excellent way to quit smoking without suffering – physically or financially – in the process. And that upsets the hell out of people, who on some level, want to punish you for what is to them sinful or immoral behaviour. It’s not about smoking; it’s about pleasure.
H.L. Mencken described it best:
Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
Just a thought.
VicB3
P.S. Also, it seem to me anyway, one of the reasons Vaping seems to work so well vs the gums and patches is that it gives you something to do with your hands, gives you a way to burn off the nervous energy. That, and you control it, dose out as much or as little as you need, and every person’s physiology is different, no one size fits all.
P.P.S. I’d love to see a truly unbiased, un-agenda driven, large scale study on the efficaciousness of vaping in helping people to stop smoking. As your wisely doctor summed it up, it’s not the nicotine that kills you, it’s all the hot gases, tar and the rest of crap in the tobacco (and paper) that does the damage.
Well what to say except the following.
I was (past tense) a smoker for 47 years smoking 25 to 30 cigarettes a day and I was in big trouble. My family could see it, I could see it, my doctor and cardiologist could also see it. At the behest of my niece I decided to try a vaporizer to help me quit and it worked. I haven’t smoked now for over 18 months and feel I have my life back. My doctor is delighted and my cardiogram is now normal. To be truthful I still use the vaporizer but what the heck. As my doctor says it’s not the nicotine that kills Rex but the tar and the thousands of other chemicals you get from inhaling burning tobacco leaves.
Doesn’t this sort or “research” also have to compare to groups that have NO access to vaping, as it simply stands to reason that those who use e-cigarettes are ALREADY more likely to smoke—something made them want to try an e-cigarette after all.
This seems like about the junkiest of junk science.
So, nicotine patches and gum would be gateway drugs also?