It isn’t news that people vastly overstate the risks of vaping. Pretty much every study on the topic has shown that shocking numbers of people – in the US, the UK and elsewhere – believe vaping is as dangerous as or even worse than cigarette smoking when it comes to your health. And, despite evidence continually mounting that vaping is much safer than smoking, public perceptions of the risks are still moving in the wrong direction.
Vaping advocates argue that this misunderstanding prevents people switching to vaping and discourages them from continuing after switching, but up until now this has been more of an assumption, with only pretty limited scientific evidence to back it up. However, a new study has confirmed these fears, showing that dual users who know vaping is safer than smoking are more likely to quit smoking and less likely to revert to smoking.
In fact, the study shows that 205,000 more would have quit smoking completely in 2016 if they’d understood that vaping is much safer. In a nutshell, the study shows just how dangerous misinformation is.
The Problem: Vaping is Safer than Smoking, But People Don’t Know It
Lee Johnson – Ecigarette Reviewed – July 17, 2019.
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