In a post on his blog page “Tobacco Truth” public health expert Brad Rodu, points out that while US federal officials have been “obsessed with that year’s ‘teen vaping epidemic,’ based on a distorted interpretation of data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey,” positive data about adult smoking and vaping in 2018 did not even make a sound.” In all likelihood, “the results don’t fit the government’s vision for a tobacco-free society,” said Rodu.

Out of 1.71 million vapers who were never smokers, two-thirds were 18-24 years old. He explains how this equates to a lower number of smoking adults.

The CDC report indicated that the number of American adult vapers, increased from 6.9 million in 2017 to 8.07 million in 2018. “That’s the first increase since the CDC started tracking e-cigarette use in 2014,” said Rodu. He added that 38% of current vapers, over 3 million, were former smokers, also the highest number in five years.

Rodu goes on to explain that in 2018, there were 1.71 million vapers who were never smokers, and for the second year in a row, over two-thirds of these were 18-24 years old. He went on to explain how this equates to a lower number of smoking adults.

“Importantly, this establishes the fact that increased rates of high school vaping (here) are resulting in lower prevalence of smoking among young adults. In fact, the prevalence of current smoking was 7.8% in this group, which is way down compared to historical levels. The vaping rate was almost the same (7.6%, with 1.7% currently using both products).”

More Unfounded “Gateway Theory” Claims

Meanwhile, a recent paper has inaccurately reported once again that vaping may lead to smoking: “…e-cigarette use was robustly associated with measures of smoking over 24 months.” Public Health expert Clive Bates responded by explaining why this study proved no such link, and harm reduction advocate Carl V Phillips added that “it is yet another thought-free piece of public health garbage in which there is no hint of scientific thinking.”