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February 19th, 2016:

E-cig revolution? Only 1 in 6 smokers has converted

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/e-cig-revolution-only-1-in-6-smokers-has-converted-a6881996.html

78% of current smokers have either used e-cigs and disliked them, or never want to try them

Only one-in-six smokers has converted to the e-cigarette, new data reveals today.

As the chart below shows, most of the UK’s current smokers are not fans of the product – despite their supposed benefit as “electronic substitutes for the cancer sticks of old”.

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78 per cent of current smokers have either used e-cigs and disliked them, or never want to try them, while 8 per cent haven’t used them yet but think they may in the future.

Yet working out the benefits of the e-cigarette is not quite as simple as this donut chart suggests.

Along with the 1.3m current smokers using e-cigs, nearly 850,000 ex-smokers are using it too.

The question is whether these ex-smokers would be smoking real cigarettes if it wasn’t for e-cigarettes, or whether they might start again as they become regular users of the new fad.

Time will tell, but one thing is clear: the ‘e-cig revolution’ is closer to a media-made myth than a true change in people’s behaviours – at least so far.