During Ramadan, smokers must abstain from smoking, so post-Ramadan can be a good time to think about quitting smoking altogether. Smoking is associated with many health issues, including lung and cardiovascular disease, as well as cancer, so giving it up is one of the best things you can do for your health.
However, due to the addictive nature of nicotine, quitting can be difficult, causing many smokers to resume smoking after a brief break. In a bid to reduce smoking rates, the UK government is introducing the “swap to stop” scheme, in which smokers are offered free vaping starter kits to encourage them to give up tobacco products.
Under the new scheme, which is a world first, it is expected that around a million smokers will be given vaping kits alongside behavioural support to help them switch from tobacco products, such as cigarettes, to vaping, which is considered to be less harmful.
In 2019, the Government pledged to reduce smoking to below 5% of the population by 2030. In 2021, the prevalence of smoking in England was at 13%, the lowest it has been on record, but a review last year estimated that unless further action is taken the below-5% target by 2030 would not be reached.
The author of the review, Dr Javed Khan, called for further measures to reduce smoking, including a ban on smoking in outdoor places such as beaches and beer gardens and increasing the legal age at which you can buy tobacco products. The review also suggested promoting vaping instead of smoking.
While vaping increases smokers’ chances of quitting, it is not without its own set of potential complications. Using vapes can help overcome nicotine dependency, but this needs to be managed as some vapes contain nicotine and smokers can be swapping one form of addiction for another instead of quitting altogether.
The amount of nicotine liquid in a vape is legally limited in the UK to 2 ml, of which the maximum nicotine strength should be 2% (currently, most manufactured cigarettes contain 10–15 mg of nicotine per cigarette, and on average, smokers systemically absorb 1–2 mg of nicotine per cigarette). However, studies have shown that nicotine can be higher in many vapes.
Although vaping does not emit tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful elements in cigarettes (and thus is a healtheir alternative to smoking), there is still insufficient data on the long-term health impacts of vaping.
There is also growing concern about the number of young people who are vaping, with companies accused of subsidising the dwindling number of cigarette smokers by marketing alternative nicotine products in a variety of flavours to young people. NHS figures released last year revealed 9% of secondary school pupils regularly or occasionally use a vape, including almost one in five 15-year-olds.
To counteract this, a consultation on how to discourage young people from taking up vaping is underway, and the Government has announced it is setting up a new trading standards enforcement squad to crack down on vapes being sold illegally to under-18s.
The Department of Health and Social Care said it would set out details on how in due course this scheme will work. Local authorities are invited to join the first wave of areas participating in the free vaping policy before a larger national scheme is rolled out over the next two years.
The good news is that for those who do quit smoking, the body will start to repair itself. According to the NHS website, within days your heart rate will drop, levels of carbon monoxide in the blood will reduce, and oxygen levels will increase.
After weeks, breathlessness and coughing will improve, as will your sense of taste and smell, and after one year, the risk of a heart attack is halved. After several years, the risk of certain cancers and strokes is also reduced. Quitting smoking is one of the best things you can do for your health.
Photo: Manufacturers of e-cigarettes are accused of aggressively targeting young people.
(Pxhere:CC0 Public Domain)
Rachel Kayani
