Vapeboss – Anti-vaping groups theorize that vaping is a gateway to smoking. However, various international scientific studies have found no evidence that users of vapes or consumers of heated tobacco products transition to smoking.

A study conducted by Shu-Hong Zhu and other researchers proves that it is impossible for smoking populations to be linked to a single intervention. The study also showed that e-cigarette use can reduce smoking rates in some countries.

"However, it is worth noting that the rate of decline in smoking in the US and UK has increased during the period when vaping became widespread, and smoking cessation rates have increased across the entire population. These changes do not appear to be explained by other factors such as tax increases and public health marketing campaigns," stated the study.

The results of this research are also relevant to the Philippines, which implemented Republic Act No. 11900 or the Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products Regulation Act as a law to regulate all forms of vape activities in the Philippines.

Public Health England also stated that they do not support the theory that vaping causes people to smoke, based on their survey.

"the results of recent surveys in the UK do not support the idea that vaping (or e-cigarette use) is a gateway to smoking," it said.

According to five surveys conducted by ASH UK or Action on Smoking and Health-United Kingdom, involving children aged 11 to 16 in the UK between 2015 and 2017, those who experimented with e-cigarettes did not become smokers.

"Overall, there is no evidence that e-cigarettes increase the prevalence of smoking in this age group. In fact, smoking prevalence among young people has decreased since e-cigarettes entered the market," according to ASH UK.

Emma Beard, who led a time-series analysis study between 2007 and 2018 in the UK, showed that the increasing consumption of cigarettes among young adults aged 16 to 24 was not linked to an increased prevalence of e-cigarette use.

In addition, Lionw Shahab from the University of Bristol led a recent study in 2022 saying, "Based on the balance of current evidence, using triangulated data from recent population-level cross-contextual comparisons, individual-level genetic analysis and modeling, we believe, however, that causal claims about a strong gateway effect from e-cigarettes to smoking are unlikely to apply, while it is still too early to rule out other smaller or opposing effects."

Source: Vapemagz