E-cigarettes – The new health “Time Bomb”

59% of smokers think public vaping leads kids to try it

The British public and SMOKERS in particular are concerned about the use of e-cigarettes and confused about their safety, according to exclusive research conducted by Allen Carr Addiction Clinics, with 47% of people claiming they view e-cigarettes as the new health time bomb for the NHS.

To coincide with World No Tobacco Day on 31 May 2016, a poll of 1,000 smokers and non-smokers conducted by One Poll highlights that 56% of people are concerned about government policy, which encourages the use of e-cigarettes and has plans to prescribe them on the NHS. A further 56% of those polled said that they are confused about the safety of e-cigarettes, including 49% of people that already use e-cigarettes.

New Health Time Bomb

20% of smokers claim to know of someone, including themselves, who is addicted to e-cigarettes, with 53% of smokers using the devices at some point. Worryingly, 67% felt current policy was more likely to encourage children to try e-cigarettes, which will only add to the problem.

Attitudes to e-cigarettes

Overall, it seems the British public is ashamed of its e-cigarettes habit:

• More than 21% were embarrassed to use their e-cigarettes in public
• 57% felt e-cigarettes shouldn’t be allowed in restaurants
• More than 50% felt someone smoking an e-cigarette was the most intrusive thing that could happen in their personal space
• 52% felt e-cigarettes shouldn’t be used at all in public spaces such as on trains or in work places

Regional attitudes

Those in London were most concerned about the impact of e-cigarettes (54%), whilst those in the East Midlands were least concerned, with only 39% worried about their impact.

John Dicey, Global Managing Director & Senior Therapist of Allen Carr Addiction Clinics comments;

“We support anything that helps smokers to quit but these research findings highlight that consumers, including smokers themselves, are confused and wary about the impact of government policy, changing attitudes to vaping and are unclear how safe e-cigarettes actually are. At Allen Carr Addiction clinics we’re extremely concerned by the way e-cigarettes are marketed and are being pushed as safe/appropriate for use in public places – making smoker-like behaviour more common. Aside from those issues it will be years before the long term negative health effects relating to e-cigarettes are known. The fact we already have e-cigarette users attending our clinics wanting help to stop indicates that vaping is not the silver bullet the government hopes it is.”

ENDS

Case Study:

Paul Palmer, 29, from Haverhill, Suffolk, UK is just one of many former e-cigarette users who stopped smoking and vaping using Allen Carr Addiction Clinics. He tried to stop smoking many times before without success until he finally quit in June 2014.

Paul initially started to use e-cigarettes to quit smoking but he eventually started both vaping and smoking, so he actually smoked more than before.

After quitting smoking using Allen Carr’s method, Paul realised that using e-cigarettes was just keeping him addicted to nicotine – he was still hooked and controlled by the drug.

Allen Carr’s Addiction Clinics are available in 50+ countries across the globe and the method is endorsed by a wide variety of celebrities and opinion formers. recent fans include, Michael McIntyre, Richard Branson, Chrissie Hynde , Sir Anthony Hopkins, Ellen DeGeneres, Lou Reed and Angelica Huston are long-term supporters of Allen Carr’s Easyway. Following on from its phenomenal success in helping smokers, Allen Carr’s approach has also successfully been applied to tackle other problems including e-cigarettes, alcohol, weight, drugs, anxiety, debt, gambling and fear of flying.

For further information visit allen-carr.tjlabs.co.uk or call 0800 389 2115.

• Survey conducted by One Poll in May 2016
• John Dicey is available for interview on Tuesday 31st May and Wednesday 1st June
• Case studies available on request

For further information please contact Claire Doherty on 07932 651 837 or Claire@thisisgrapevine.com

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