More Children Trying E Cigarettes

According to official research, more children are trying e-cigarettes.

The Health and Social Care Information Centre has reported 18 per cent of students admitted to smoking in 2014. The annual survey has been carried out since 1982 and in last year’s survey they also asked students if they had tried e-cigarettes.

The official figures reveal 22 per cent of children had tried an e-cigarette. This figure does not reveal children started taking e-cigarettes as a daily habit just they had tried vaping.

E-cigarettes have become an alternative for smokers who want to stop smoking but there are concerns more children will start using e-cigs.

Currently vaping is not restricted by advertising laws which control tobacco marketing. There are concerns more children will be persuaded to take up vaping because it is being considered as fashionable.

Deborah Arnott, the chief executive at Ash, has stated we should not be too concerned by the results because they do not reveal children are regularly vaping.

“These results are entirely consistent with other British surveys showing that regular use of e-cigarettes among teenagers is tiny and is confined to those who are already regular smokers:” she said.

“They do not support the idea that experimentation with electronic cigarettes is a gateway into smoking as the number of young people trying smoking continues to decline year on year.”

From the official reports it shows 2014 has the lowest recorded levels of children aged 11 to 15 trying cigarettes. The numbers have been declining since 2003 when it recorded 42 per cent of students had tried smoking.