Swap to Stop
Have you thought about quitting smoking using a vape?
There can be some confusion about vapes, but evidence shows that vaping is far less harmful than smoking and is proven to be one of the most effective ways to help you quit.
Around 2.5 million adults are using e-cigarettes in England, and they have helped many thousands of people successfully quit. Our expert Health and Wellbeing Coaches can give you advice about the right device and nicotine strength for you, how to use a vape, plus extra support to help you succeed.
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Vaping vs Smoking
Cigarettes release thousands of different chemicals when they burn. Many are poisonous and up to 70 of them cause cancer. Most of these harmful chemicals, including tar and carbon monoxide, are not contained in vape aerosol.
In 2022 UK experts reviewed the international evidence and found that in the short and medium term, vaping poses a small fraction of the risks of smoking.
Myths and Facts
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Vaping is just as harmful to your health as smoking
While vaping is not entirely risk free, it is significantly less harmful than smoking.
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Nicotine is very harmful to health
Although nicotine is addictive, it is relatively harmless to health. The real dangers of smoking come from the thousands of other chemicals in tobacco smoke, not nicotine itself.
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Switching to a vape is just swapping one harmful addiction for another
Although vapes contain nicotine, the same addictive substance found in cigarettes, vaping is much less harmful and can drastically reduce your health risks.
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People use vapes more frequently than cigarettes – that must be worse
It’s common to vape more often than you smoked, but there is no current evidence to suggest that this is worse for your health. The overall exposure to harmful substances is still much lower with vaping.
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Vapes are not regulated and we do not know what’s in them
In the UK, nicotine vaping products are strictly regulated for safety and quality.
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Vaping causes ‘popcorn lung’
Vaping does not cause “popcorn lung,” a rare disease known as bronchiolitis obliterans. This myth has been debunked by numerous health experts.
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Exposure to vape aerosol is harmful to people around you
There is no evidence so far that vaping is harmful to bystanders. The risks associated with second-hand vape aerosol are minimal compared to second-hand smoke.
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A disposable vape can deliver as much nicotine as 40 or 50 cigarettes
A standard disposable vape in the UK delivers a similar amount of nicotine as 20 cigarettes.
Source: NHS Better Health
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