The United Kingdom wants to urge its smokers to abandon cigarettes and turn to electronic cigarettes by offering them a starter kit, despite its worrying growing popularity among young people.
“As many as two out of three lifelong smokers will die from cigarettes. It is the only product on the market that will kill if used correctly,” Health Minister Neil O’Brien is due to announce on Tuesday, according to The Guardian.
The new program “swap to stop“, or “exchange to stop” in French, aims to encourage smokers to abandon their bad habit, by offering nearly one in five smokers a set of electronic vapers to help them quit smoking.
- Listen to the interview with pediatrician Nicholas Chadi regarding the dangers of smoking and vaping via :
A total of one million electronic cigarettes are expected to be distributed in England.
This announcement comes as part of a government smoke-free campaign, the English media continued.
Pregnant women will also be offered £400, the equivalent of around $670, to quit smoking, and advice to that effect will be added to cigarette packets.
But the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is fighting a battle on two fronts.
If he wants to make vapers more accessible to help adults quit smoking, he is also trying to reduce vaping among minors aged 11 to 17, which has fallen from 3.3% in 2021 to 7% in 2022. , according to a survey by Action on Smoking and Health (Ash).
The Minister of Health has previously expressed concern regarding this increase, indicating that he wants to establish a “crackdown” on companies that “make children addicted to nicotine”.
