Every year, a group of people aims to quit smoking for Stoptober. Not all succeed, but many see this event as the first important step towards quitting. The 2017 campaign was interesting because it was the first time it supported the use of electronic cigarettes as a useful tool for helping people quit.
Following the success of the 2017 campaign, the government is now being urged to promote the switch from smoking to vaping throughout the year, rather than just for Stoptober. Mark Pawsey MP, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), said the campaign supporting vaping by Public Health England was “a welcome change”. Yet he also pointed out it “needs to be sustained, not just a one off.”
House of Commons debate
The APPG’s vice-chair, Gareth Johnson, led a debate in the House of Commons on 1st November that highlighted this very subject. Since the advertising campaign by PHE was deemed to be a great success, some MPs and Peers in the House of Lords have suggested the government should support ongoing measures to promote vaping. Now Stoptober has ended, there has been lots of evidence to suggest more people have bought vaping starter kits, and invested in supplies to help them switch from smoking to vaping.
A quick visit to the Stoptober site (part of the official NHS website) also shows how much space was given to e-cigarettes as a “great way to combat nicotine cravings”. There was a link to a dedicated page about e-cigarettes, while another link led to information about ‘stop smoking medicines’. These included patches, gum, and other nicotine replacement therapies.
The site does point out that vaping is not completely without risk, because of the presence of nicotine. However, the absence of tobacco, tar, and carbon monoxide certainly makes it healthier than smoking – the very message PHE was trying to get across. The Stoptober website also stated e-cigarettes combined with support from local services lead to “some of the highest quitting success rates”. More reason than ever to try vaping – and a reassuring message of support in the UK, in stark contrast to the approach taken by some other countries and locales.
“A continuous programme”
The APPG released a statement that called for an ongoing programme to continue promoting the benefits of switching from smoking to vaping. There is ample evidence to suggest vaping shops and suppliers enjoyed a healthy boost in business during Stoptober. This in turn suggests many smokers were trying e-cigs for the first time.
The aim is to ensure the public is also made more aware of the relative safety of vaping as opposed to smoking. Vaping has been confirmed as being some 99% safer than smoking, yet a recent survey indicated only 20% of people knew this. Two years previously, that figure stood at 31%. In 2013, just 7% of people thought vaping products were as bad as or worse than smoking. Fast-forward four years and the figure has shot up to 26%.
If the government does commit to a year-round plan to ensure vaping is accurately promoted as a real alternative to smoking, more people might quit smoking than is currently the case. With around 7.6 million UK residents still smoking, the potential health benefits of such a promotion cannot be denied.
Did you take part in Stoptober this year? If so, did you do so by switching to vaping? Have you managed to quit smoking with the help of e-cigarettes, or did you do it another way? Have you kept up with vaping since? Let us know your feelings and experiences by commenting below.
