The attention comes after a new study found that a significant number of teenagers who try vaping have never smoked. Researchers from the Tobacco Free Research Institute Ireland said the proportion of 16 and 17-year-olds who had tried e-cigarettes rose from 23% in 2014 to 39% in 2019. 39% of teens said they had tried e-cigarettes compared to 32% who had tried smoking. And 68% of those who had tried e-cigarettes said they had never tried smoking. The main reasons teens gave for trying e-cigarettes were curiosity (66%) and because their friends were vaping (29%), according to data from thousands of teens. Only 3% said it was to quit smoking. Meanwhile, researchers said young people whose parents smoke are 55% more likely to try e-cigarettes. Read more: 4.3 million Brits now use e-cigarettes – but 350,000 of them have never smoked The new research, presented at the European Respiratory Society’s International Congress in Barcelona, Spain, also found that these young people were 51% more likely to have tried smoking. Professor Luke Clancy, director general of the Institute, said: “We found increasing use of e-cigarettes among Irish teenagers and this is a pattern that is emerging elsewhere in the world. “There is a perception that vaping is a better alternative to smoking, but our research shows that this is not the case for teenagers who typically have not tried cigarettes before e-cigarettes. “This shows that, for teenagers, vaping is a route into nicotine addiction, rather than out of it.” ‘disturbing’ Lead researcher Dr Joan Hanafin added: “We can see that the number of teenagers using e-cigarettes is changing rapidly, so we need to continue to monitor the situation in Ireland and around the world. “We also plan to study social media to understand how it influences girls’ and boys’ vaping behaviour.” Image: Vaping devices. Photo: AP Commenting on the study, Professor Jonathan Grigg, chair of the European Respiratory Society’s Tobacco Control Committee, said: “These findings are worrying, not just for teenagers in Ireland, but for families around the world.” Earlier this year, a separate report by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) concluded that the proportion of children vaping is on the rise, with many influenced by social networking sites such as TikTok. Although it is illegal to sell vaping to anyone under 18, the percentage of 11- to 17-year-olds currently vaping has increased from 4% in 2020 to 7% in 2022.
