Vaping masterclasses

A nationwide awareness and education campaign is due to be rolled out by the vaping sector across the UK in April.

VApril, which is being organised by the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), will be fronted by Christian Jessen, who is a medical doctor, television presenter and writer.

‘The initiative comes on the back of Public Health England’s (PHE) recent review into vaping which reinforced that it was 95 percent less harmful than smoking and revealed that it was one of the most successful ways to quit conventional cigarettes,’ UKVIA said in a press note.

‘The campaign will call upon the country’s smokers to Take the VApril Challenge, which will involve vaping masterclasses at specialist retail stores for smokers to learn about the different products and nicotine strengths that are best suited to a successful quit. As part of the initiative, the UKVIA has published a special education guide – Vaping to break the Smoking Habit.’

“I am always amazed and disappointed to hear that we still have seven million smokers in this country and, according to PHE, around 40 percent of them have never tried vaping,” Jessen was quoted as saying. “Furthermore, more than half of the population don’t realise that vaping is a fraction of the risk of smoking.

“That’s why I’m a committed supporter of the idea of a national vaping awareness campaign such as VApril to encourage smokers to take the first steps to quitting their habit. Already some 1.5 million vapers have given up smoking altogether, but more education is needed to ensure this figure keeps growing.”

John Dunne, a director of UKVIA, said VApril would be the largest campaign ever run by the vaping industry and reflected how far the sector had come in a relatively short time. “The challenge for the industry, government and the public health community is to get across the message that e-cigarettes are a very small risk compared to smoking and that nearly three million smokers are now vaping, with a significant number having switched over altogether,” he said. “VApril aims to be the starting point for more smokers to quit their habit.”

The VApril campaign has its own website at: www.vapril.org.