E-Cigarettes as The Threat to the Tobacco Industry

In a landmark review published less than a year ago by

; they concluded E-cigarette are 95% less harmful than tobacco and have the potential to help smokers quit. The number of people who use electronic cigarettes in the UK has multiplied massively over the past years to an estimated 2.6 million. Among those currently using electronic cigarettes; almost all of them are ex-smokers and 1.3 million are using them alongside normal cigarettes or tobacco. The survey revealed that use of e-cigarettes among people who have never smoked remains small, at only 1%. With this continuing rise of converters, how is this having an effect on tobacco industries? Current evidence finds that e-cigarettes carry a fraction of the risk of smoking and the evidence suggests some of the highest successful quit rates are now seen among smokers who use an e-cigarette and also receive additional support from their local stop smoking services. Moreover, Dr. Jamie Brown from University College London claims in the British Journal of General Practice that for every million smokers who switch from tobacco to e-cigarettes, over 6,000 premature deaths would be prevented in the UK every year. Therefore, if an estimated 9 million smokers in the UK took up e-cigarettes instead, 54,000 lives could be saved; also meaning the NHS would spend less time and money treating people for diseases related to the habit. E—cigarettes are now, without a doubt the biggest threat that the tobacco industry has ever faced. Technology has innovated almost everything we see around us today, and now they have revolutionised smoking, for the first time since the 1960s, with the inception of the filter, tobacco have not been prepared Therefore, huge tobacco industries like British American Tobacco (BAT) Is one of the huge companies that have taken over previously independent e- cigarettes companies in order to protect interests with a likelihood they see e- cigarettes rapidly becoming a future route out of the tobacco business. As combustible cigarette sales decline and e- cigarette sales continue to rapidly rise it offers tobacco companies a ‘win, win,’ With the huge amount of money, they will be pumping into the e- cigarette range, they can contribute to the research and overall development for better e- cigarette products; whilst also gaining a financial win in the long term. Statistics from

SmokinginEngland.info

confirmed the increase of e-cigarette use by smokers and people who intend to stop. Based on data collected during monthly household surveys (which involved a new representative sample of approximately 1800 respondents each month), researchers estimated that between May 2011 and November 2013, the percentage of smokers using e-cigarettes rose from 2% to 15%. Similarly, the percentage of people using e-cigarettes in an attempt to quit smoking increased from about 1% to 12% in the same period. Research since then has shown a rapid ascent in the amount of people converting to e-cigarettes, and this could spell trouble for many companies in the tobacco industry who haven’t already jumped on board. If you are thinking about making the switch then check out the results of the

2016 electronic cigarette awards

to find which device is suitable for you!