2023 has been an eventful year in the world of vaping, with big announcements from the Government like their ‘swap to stop’ scheme, and vapers being given their chance to shape the future of vaping in the open consultation. We're taking a look at all of the vaping news and events that have taken place this year.
January
We kicked off 2023 with the news that the amount of adult vapers in the UK hit 4 million, as more and more people opt for an e-cigarette to help them to quit smoking. This news came from the Office for National Statistics, who found that UK smoking rates had hit an all-time-low and reported that vaping has played a ‘major role’ in the decline.
January also saw the release of further research confirming that vaping is more effective for smoking-cessation than commonly available nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) options like nicotine gum and patches, with those using an e-cigarette being 63% more likely to successfully quit smoking. We delve deeper into the research in our post ‘E-cigarettes proven to be twice as effective as other NRTs’.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good news to start the year off, with fears that the Government may abandon the tobacco control plan and potentially cancel plans for England to be smoke-free by 2030.
February
At the beginning of February we shared our post ‘Quitting smoking can reverse cognitive decline’, which looked as new research published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. The researchers found that smokers are twice as likely to experience signs of cognitive decline like memory loss and confusion in middle-age compared to non-smokers, but those who quit smoking had reduced their risk of such problems.
We also announced that Evapo had received the Feefo Gold Trusted Service Award based on the customer feedback received throughout the previous year.
In some not so positive news an investigation found that some batches of the Elf Bar 600 and Lost Mary BM600 disposable vapes had mistakenly been fitted with a 3ml e-liquid chamber, which is commonly used in other countries but is not compliant with UK regulations. While the devices were tested and confirmed to be safe to use, the manufacturers ELFBAR met with the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and made the decision to withdraw any affected products from the market to ensure full compliance with UK regulations. You can read our statement on this in the post ‘Evapo statement on Elf Bar 600 compliance’.
March
March hosted the 39th annual No Smoking Day, a health awareness campaign which works to encourage people to quit. In 2023 the campaign collaborated with Alzheimer's Research UK with the theme ‘stopping smoking improves your brain health’.
The Spring budget was also released in March, revealing a 14.7% price increase on cigarettes but no tax levy applied to vaping products, another win for vapers!
To help smokers find out more about the benefits of making the switch from smoking to vaping, we published our blog post ‘Is vaping really cheaper than smoking?’, which included research from University College London finding that those who switch could save £780 per year.
April
Every April plays host to the annual VApril campaign, a month long event that aims to educate the public on the use of an e-cigarette as an alternative to smoking, and support smokers in making the switch. As a founding member of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), organisers of VApril, we supported the event by publishing information on making the switch from smoking to vaping in our blog post ‘VApril 2023’.
We also joined the Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA), an organisation that shares our aims to help make the vaping industry more sustainable and to see a smoke-free future.
Finally, April saw the announcement of the world-first ‘swap to stop’ scheme, an incentive which will provide one million smokers with a vaping starter kit to help them make the switch from smoking to vaping. This initiative will not only help smokers to quit, but also shows that the Government support vaping as a stop smoking aid for adult smokers, which could help many more people feel confident enough to make the switch.
May
In May Action on Smoking and Health released the findings of their economic analysis, revealing that smoking costs England £17.3 billion each year through loss of productivity, health and social care, and fire costs. This staggering figure demonstrated yet another reason why initiatives like the ‘swap to stop’ scheme are so important, and prompted calls for a ‘polluter pays’ levy on big tobacco companies.
June
In June we published an article outlining how we had responded to the Government’s call for evidence to identify opportunities to reduce underage access to vaping products following an increase in youth vaping. We have nearly ten years of experience within the industry, and take age verification extremely seriously both in our 48 retail stores and on our online vape shop. Our recommendations include the introduction of a vape licensing scheme, similar to an alcohol license, and stricter enforcement of the current regulations. You can read more about it in our blog post ‘Evapo respond to government call for evidence on youth vaping’.
Another aspect raised in the call for evidence is the environmental impact of vaping, for example the plastic and electronic waste produced by single-use products like disposable vapes. Becoming a more sustainable company and minimising the impact of vaping is a top priority for us as a company, so in June we collaborated with CleanHub to fund recovery of plastic waste before it reaches the ocean. We have committed to recovering 12,500kg of plastic waste, and by the end of 2023 we are over half way there with 7,842kg of plastic waste recovered so far.
July
By the middle of 2023 we were really glad to see the industry really starting to focus on combatting the environmental impact of vaping and making vaping products more environmentally friendly. Our blog post ‘Recyclable disposable vapes’ delves into the decisions that vapers can make to choose more sustainable options, and looks at new innovations in vaping technology that are using biodegradable and recyclable materials to make disposable vapes.
August
In August we looked at research from Queen Mary University of London which compared the efficacy and safety of e-cigarettes versus nicotine patches for smoking cessation during pregnancy. The team found that not only are safety outcomes similar for both nicotine alternatives, but that vapes actually resulted in fewer babies born with low birth weight than nicotine patches. Not only that, but vapes are also nearly twice as effective at helping expectant mothers to remain smoke-free, which is excellent news when you consider that data from 2019 suggests that over 10% of pregnant women report being smokers at the time of childbirth.
Another huge win for vaping came from a study out of Brunel University London, which found that vaping could save the NHS over £500m each year. This is based on calculations that smokers who switch to a vape kit would have a 70% reduction in smoking-related diseases, and therefore, if 50% of current smokers made the switch the NHS would save £518 million on average per year.
However, some not so positive news came out of Action on Smoking and Health’s annual ‘Use of e-cigarettes among adults in Great Britain’ survey. It unfortunately found that 39% of current smokers mistakenly believe vaping to be as harmful, if not more so, than smoking. This identified perceptions of vaping as an crucial target for reform if initiatives like the Government’s ‘swap to stop’ scheme are to be successful.
September
September saw the release of the latest addition of the Office for National Statistics ‘Adult smoking habits in the UK’, revealing that the smoking rate for people aged 18 and over in the UK has dropped to 12.9%, the lowest since records began in 2011. This tied in with separate research from Queen Mary University London which found that vaping is helping to speed up the demise of traditional cigarettes.
This month was also the release of a new Cochrane review comparing the efficacy of e-cigarettes versus stop smoking medications varenicline, commonly known as Champix. The review found that vaping is as effective as these smoking cessation pharmacotherapies, which is excellent news when you consider that vapes are easily accessible and affordable.
Finally, vape manufacturer Elf Bar released their new QUAQ mesh coil technology in September, in products like their Elf Bar 600V2 and Lost Mary BM600S disposable vapes, and ELFA PRO prefilled pods. Not only does this innovative tech improve flavour payoff and coil longevity, but it also makes these products easier to disassemble for recycling.
October
October plays host to the Department of Health and Social Care annual stop smoking campaign, Stoptober. The campaign is based around research that if a smoker can abstain from smoking for 28 days, they are five times more likely to remain smoke-free for good. We supported the campaign with our post ‘Stop for good, not just October’. The Royal College of Physicians also reiterated their support for vaping as a stop smoking aid during October, reminding the public that OHID have found vaping to be at least 95% less harmful than smoking, and that quit rates are 50% higher with vapes than with nicotine replacement therapy.
We also saw Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announce plans for a historic new law aiming to phase out smoking and create a ‘smokefree generation’. This would work by making it illegal for anyone born on or after 1st of January 2009 to ever purchase cigarettes, effectively raising the smoking age by a year every year until it eventually applies to the entire population. This could potentially bring an end to young people smoking as soon as 2040.
To allow the public to have their say on this, and other proposed new legislation, the Government opened their public consultation on smoking and youth vaping, giving us all the chance to share our opinions and experiences, and to shape the future of smoking and vaping in the UK.
November
Towards the start of November we heard the King's Speech, which included the new 'Tobacco and Vapes Bill'. A key part of the this bill is implementing the law that those born on or after 1st January 2009 will never legally be able to purchase cigarettes, with the aim of 'stopping the start'. This is because most smokers start as teenagers, with 83% starting before the age of 20, and smokers who start young have higher levels of tobacco dependency, making it harder to quit. By preventing a generation of young people from ever starting to smoke, we can not only create a smokefree generation, but also protect them and future generations from the many harms of smoking.
With the Government’s open consultation underway, we released our strategy to prevent youth vaping, with recommendations for actions which could help reduce youth access to vaping products without affecting their availability to adult smokers and vapers. The IBVTA also encouraged vapers to speak up and respond to the consultation, in recognition of the fact that these people will be the most affected by any new vaping regulations imposed.
November also saw the launch of Treefo, which turns customer feedback into forests. Feefo, who we partner with to allow our customers to provide feedback on their experience with our online store, is collaborating with reforestation projects. Each review we receive now helps to fund the planting of new trees and restoration of landscapes.
December
To close out the year we found out the true cost of smoking to society in England, thanks to Action on Smoking and Health’s new data. The analysis looked at areas not previously calculated, for the most accurate estimates seen so far, which add up to an eye-watering £49.2 billion per year in lost productivity, health and social care, and fire costs.
We also saw Evapo Founder and CEO Andrej Kuttruf defend vaping on BBC News. As the Government open consultation came to a close, Kuttruf shared the important role that vapes play in helping adult smokers to quit, and the crucial need for a balanced approach which not only reduces youth access to vaping products, but also ensures they are still widely available for adults as a smoking cessation tool.
Finally, a new study from University College London found that the decline in smoking rates which has remained consistent for decades, has actually slowed since the Covid-19 pandemic. While more people than ever have been successfully quitting smoking, this has been offset by an increase in smoking among 18-24 year olds which started during lockdown. Smoking prevalence fell by 5.2% per year in the years leading up to the pandemic, but has slowed to just 0.3% per year since. While 45-65 year olds experienced a 13.6% decrease in smoking prevalence, 18-24 year olds experienced a 34.9% increase, a stark reminder that we still have a long way to go if we are to achieve the Government’s ambition for England to be smoke-free by 2030.
While 2023 has certainly had it’s ups and downs, there have been some substantial new findings in vaping research, and vapers have had a great opportunity to share their experiences and opinions on vaping to help shape future regulations. We hope to see even more progress in the upcoming year, with smoking rates continuing to fall and more people making the switch from smoking to vaping.
Happy New Year from all of us here at Evapo!
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