More smokers try vaping

In a March survey of U.K. adults, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) found that 61.1 percent of current cigarette smokers have tried vaping, up from 34.3 percent in 2013, and 19.4 percent of smokers report current use of vapor products, up from 10.7 percent in 2013.

However, ASH found that “[m]isperceptions about the relative risk of vaping and smoking are growing,” as only 15 percent of all adults believe vaping is less harmful than smoking, down from 21 percent in 2013, and 25 percent of adults believe vaping is more or equally harmful than smoking in 2016, up from 7 percent in 2013.

Among smokers who have never tried vaping, the most common reason cited was their concern that it is “not safe enough.” ASH’s survey also found that 9 percent of vapers report using e-liquid with 19 mg/ml or more of nicotine, and 11 percent of vapers report using more than 4 ml of e-liquid per day, suggesting that only a small portion of vapers would be impacted by the new EU Tobacco Products Directive, which limits the nicotine concentration to under 20 mg/ml and the e-liquid size to 2 ml for tanks and 10 ml for bottles.