The proportion of young people vaping in the UK has tripled in the past three years, reversing a historical trend that has driven up nicotine addiction levels, new research shows.
Research from University College London shows that disposable e-cigarettes have created a significant number of young people who would not otherwise smoke.
Research shows that since 2021, the proportion of people aged 18-24 who inhale nicotine products has jumped from 28% to 35%.
A big driver of this growth is e-cigarettes, whose popularity has exploded with the mass marketing of disposable e-cigarettes. The proportion of people aged 18-24 who use e-cigarettes has soared from 9% in May 2021 to 29% in May 2024.
Based on historical trends, this growth is far from predictable. In fact, researchers said that as of June 2021, adult smoking and vaping had been declining.
E-cigarette craze
E-cigarettes were originally produced as a less harmful alternative to smoking and marketed almost exclusively to regular smokers.
However, researchers warn that e-cigarettes are now making people addicted to nicotine who would not otherwise use nicotine products. A lot of this has to do with how they are marketed.
While there are tight restrictions on cigarette packaging – the UK requires graphic images and information about proven health risks and bans advertising – rules on e-cigarettes are looser.
Chinese e-cigarette brands such as Lost Mary and Elf Bar have helped nicotine pushers find new young customers, selling e-cigarettes in bright colors and attractive flavors such as watermelon and sour cherry. As legislation and taxes increasingly phase out tobacco products, other large companies that traditionally sell cigarettes, including Marlboro maker Philip Morris International, are turning to e-cigarettes.
In recent years, Philip Morris has been marketing a “smoke-free future” focused on nicotine as an alternative to smoking, primarily through the sale of e-cigarettes.
“Since disposable e-cigarettes became popular in the UK, the historical downward trend in nicotine use has been reversed,” the researchers wrote.
“Right now, nicotine use appears to be on the rise, driven largely by a dramatic increase in vaping among young people. The decline in smoking rates has been most pronounced among the age groups where e-cigarette use has increased the most.
While e-cigarettes are indeed less harmful than cigarettes, they are far from risk-free, and experts don’t recommend that non-smokers take up this highly addictive habit. Because they’re new, little is known about their long-term health risks, although a new study from Seoul National University Bundang Hospital finds that people who start vaping after quitting smoking are more likely to develop lung cancer than those who quit smoking entirely.
Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government has legislated to ban nicotine use to prevent it from spiraling out of control.
A new bill would make it illegal for people born after 2009 to smoke at any time in their lives, gradually raising the minimum age to buy cigarettes from 18, eventually making smoking illegal for everyone.
The bill is expected to be put on hold until after the UK general election on July 4.
Disposable e-cigarettes, the most common form of e-cigarette use, will be banned in the UK from April next year.
Research from University College London appears to confirm anecdotal evidence observed in any street or bar where Gen Z live, who are increasingly looking for any way to get nicotine into their systems.
Other young people are choosing to use nicotine pouches instead of e-cigarettes, and Philip Morris-owned Swedish brand Zyn is soaring in popularity in the United States
And beyond nicotine, young consumers are also fascinated by Zyn’s lucrative rewards system, with frequent users of these products cashing in on their addiction by purchasing $400 Apple Watches and $600 Dyson air bags.
Nicotine pouches like Zyn have so far been able to circumvent regulations because they are not inhaled products.
Lawmakers are likely to continue grappling with Big Nicotine’s strategy of pushing their products to a willing young audience, and the latest data suggests they have little time to waste.
