More Research Dismisses The Gateway Theory

Recently, a news story was published suggesting that e cigarettes where a gateway to smoking for adults and more worryingly, under 18's. However, new evidence has been released that dismisses the gateway theory, further emphasising what many from the eliquid community have already said - vaping does not necessarily lead to smoking.

The research, provided by Cancer Research in a recent news story shows that smoking e cigarettes does not guarantee a user will begin smoking normal cigarettes regularly. Professor Linda Bauld of Stirling University Stated:

“Our survey is in line with others in the different parts of the UK that show this is not happening. Young people are certainly experimenting with e-cigarettes, some of which do contain nicotine. However, our data show that at the moment this experimentation is not translating into regular use.”

What's even more interesting is the fact that these findings back up previous research completed that showed despite popular opinion, a very small amount of under 18's actually use e cigarettes.

The 1205 children who took part in the recent survey where based all over the UK, and were aged between 11-16. Around 12 percent of them stated they had tried an e cigarette before, with less than 2 percent of those in the survey admitting to regular use.

Professor Linda Bauld of Stirling University also stated:

“There’s a common perception that the rise we’ve seen in the use of electronic cigarettes will lead to a new generation of adults who have never smoked but are dependent on nicotine. This fear is based on the expectation that due to the appeal of the products, children who have never used tobacco will be attracted to e-cigarettes and start to use them regularly. "

Furthermore, Alison Cox from Cancer Research UK directly dismissed the gateway theory directly stating -

"These data on electronic cigarette use in youth suggests that e-cigarettes are not serving as a gateway to tobacco. "

A voice of such authority in the research community putting this information in the public domain will hopefully serve as an education to those consistently scaremongering in the media, suggesting that e cigarettes will entice children into smoking.