According to Santé Publique France, 32.8% of French people say they have tried electronic cigarettes.
In 2017, French vapers aged 18 to 75 almost all had experience with tobacco, as current smokers or ex-smokers.
Daily vaping is stable
According to Public Health France, 32.8% of the population declare having experimented with electronic cigarettes, 3.8% vape occasionally and 2.7% do so daily. Vaping prevalence is down from 2014 (5.9% of 15/75 year olds) due to a drop in occasional vaping while daily vaping is stable. In 2017, among 17-year-olds, nearly half had tried e-cigarettes, as in 2014, while daily vaping remains rare (1.9%).
Overall, the proportion of daily smokers decreased (from 64.5% to 39.7%) among vapers, while that of ex-smokers increased (from 23.5% to 49.5%) between 2014 and 2017.
Ban on vaping in public places
The number of former daily smokers who have quit smoking for more than six months and who think that vaping has helped them to quit smoking is estimated at around 700,000 people since the arrival of the e-cigarette on the market in France in 2010. Electronic cigarettes are perceived as as or more harmful than regular cigarettes by half of the population.
All other things being equal, daily smokers think it is more harmful than regular cigarettes, while vapers and more socioeconomically advantaged people are more likely to think it is less harmful. The ban on vaping in places where smoking is not allowed and the ban on selling e-cigarettes to minors under 18 are appreciated by 66.9% and 77.5% of French people respectively.
San Francisco bans the sale of electronic cigarettes
The electronic cigarette is now validated by many studies as one of the most effective ways to quit smoking tobacco. However, it also promotes, according to recent research, heart disease, wheezing, fungus in the mouth, the transition to smoking in adolescents, lung cancer and heart attacks.
On Tuesday June 24, the American city of San Francisco banned the sale of electronic cigarettes on its territory, by a unanimous vote of its city council. The city wanted to react to the “impressive increase” in vaping among young people, which has “significant consequences for public health”.
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