E-cigarette Market ''Booming''

Source from:  MSN News  02/28/2014

The soaring popularity of e-cigarettes is hampering growth in sales of stop smoking aids, new figures suggest.

Smokers are increasingly turning to e-cigarettes to beat the habit, with the market "booming" by 340% over the past year to reach an estimated £193 million in 2013, according to analysts Mintel.

Meanwhile, products to help smokers quit such as gum, tablets and patches have seen growth slow from annual increases of 6% to 10% between 2009 and 2012, to 1.7% last year to reach a value to £131 million.

Mintel senior personal care analyst Roshida Khanom said: "The rise in popularity of e-cigarettes has hampered growth in the value of the smoking cessation market, which saw modest growth in 2013.

"Although e-cigarettes are largely marketed as an alternative to smoking, smokers have been using them to cut down or quit smoking.

"But with the growing popularity of e-cigarettes, there is concern that young people may take up 'vaping' as a less harmful alternative to smoking.

"This concern has resulted in the Government announcement made in January that the sale of e-cigarettes to under-18s is to be made illegal."

While many people view the tobacco-free devices as a better alternative to traditional cigarettes, health experts remain deeply concerned about the long-term effects they could have on users' health.

E-cigarettes provide a hit of nicotine - a highly addictive drug - and some fear they reinforce the behaviour of smoking, making it harder to give up in the long-term.

But Mintel's research found that a greater proportion of smokers and ex-smokers agreed that e-cigarettes were a good way to cut down (32%) rather than quit smoking (26%), suggesting that people were using them as both a smoking cessation aid and an alternative to tobacco.

More than three in 10 people (31%) agreed there was a lack of information on the long-term effects of using e-cigarettes, but 20% agreed that they would only be considered safe once they had NHS approval.

Despite this, 10% of people who currently or used to smoke agreed that e-cigarettes may encourage people to start smoking who otherwise may not have, rising to 19% of those aged 16 to 24-years-old.

Ms Khanom said: "These findings suggest that young people may take up e-cigarettes instead of tobacco, and supports the government decision to make it illegal to sell these products to under-18s.

"Proposed changes in legislation from 2016 are likely to see e-cigarettes classified as medicines and so brands will need to provide more information to support their claims if they wish to remain in the market."

Mintel's study found the most popular smoking cessation method was non-prescription nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), used by half (50%) of people who had or were trying to quit smoking, and rated effective by 35%.

E-cigarettes are the second most popular method, used by 45% of people and rated equally as effective as non-prescription NRT (35%) in helping smokers kick the habit. Enditem