Welsh Children ‘Ditch Tobacco For E-Cigs’

Children in Wales are nearly twice as likely to vape than smoke regular tobacco, Cardiff University research has found.

A study, published in the BMJ Open, investigated 32,479 11-16 year olds in Wales, and found that 18.5% had used e-cigarettes, whereas only 10.5% had used tobacco.

A Swansea e-cig firm insisted that it operates a challenge policy on those who appear younger than 25 to ensure products are not sold to young people.

The study found no evidence that suggested e-cigs make youngsters more likely to smoke, but fears that young vaping could develop into a public health issue if ignored.

2.7% of those who were questioned had used e-cigs weekly at the least, and 41.8% of those that smoked daily use e-cigs on a regular basis.

“Our data suggest that e-cigarette use is rapidly increasing among youths,” said Elen de Lacy, lead author of the study that found Welsh Children are more likely to use e-cigs than tobacco.

“Regular use by non-smokers remains very low, but is growing.”

“The real need now is for further research to examine long-term youth e-cigarette and tobacco use and to understand e-cigarette use from young people’s perspectives.”

Like among children in Wales, tobacco in the US is at an all time popularity low. However, that doesn’t seem to be curbing investors’ interest, with British American Tobacco buying up tobacco shares.

It has been reported in the past that vaping helps smokers quit, and are around 95% safer than regular cigarettes.