E-cigarettes are "the most popular stop smoking aid in England," according to a recent government report, which says they increase the likelihood of success by about 50 percent and reduce health risks by "at least 95%." The report from Public Health England (PHE) illustrates the continuing contrast between the way British officials talk about vaping and the way their American counterparts do.
About 2.5 million people use e-cigarettes in England, PHE says, and 51 percent, or almost 1.3 million, have stopped smoking entirely. Half of vapers who still smoke say they are using e-cigarettes in an effort to quit. By comparison, some 2.6 million vapers in the United States were former smokers as of 2016. Since the U.S. has a population six times as big as England's, it looks like we have fallen far behind in taking advantage of this harm-reducing alternative to smoking.
