E-Cigarettes and Adolescent Smoking Habits

Introduction

Smoking is harmful for the individuals as it causes many long term diseases such as poor pulmonary functions, asthma, radio vascular disease and lung cancer. Every year more than 200000 young people are getting addicted to the smoking which increases vulnerability as well as the mortality rate of the UK is also affected. Smoking at adolescent age becomes as serious issue and in this regard e-cigarettes can be one of the good alternatives to get rid of addiction of smoking. The study is effective to analyse the impacts of e-cigarettes in supporting smoking abstinence as it is considered as a good alternative solution to smoking habits.

Background of the study

In the recent pandemic era due to COVID 19, the percentage of smokers is increasing rapidly due to several issues including mental illness, depression and anxiety, lack of job opportunity, economic slowdown and lock down (Dobbie et al., 2018). During this period, the numbers of smoker increases in the UK become double due to loneliness and depression and it has been seen in adults and teenagers. They are suffering from closure of online classes, economic slowdown, lack of job opportunities, closure of university and mental pressure about future among the young population in the UK (Awan et al. 2017). 39% individuals in the UK start smoking at the age below 16 and according to PHE or Public Health England data, the major cause of premature death and preventable illness among the individuals is smoking. Smoking accounts more than 774800 deaths and there are also adverse impacts of smoking on the body functions and organs specially lung. Smoking increases the risk of mouth, throat, larynx, and lung cancer. Smoking also increases risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis (Cummings, 2016). In this recent pandemic era, evidences show that, people are getting more addicted toward cigarettes due to the reasons of depression and anxiety, loneliness, lack of employment opportunities, economic slowdown, lock down and social distancing, educational break down and other mental pressure (PHE, 2018). NHS (2018) report shed light on increasing numbers of change smokers in the society, mainly the adults and teenagers where they are suffering through depression and it further reduces their quality of life. National Tobacco Control program (NTCP) in the year 2007-08 during the 11th Five-Year-Plan is effective to manage the use of tobacco in the society and improve the standard of living of the individuals with the aim of creating awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco consumption, ensuring effective implementation of the program in the society and reducing the production and supply of tobacco products so that the individuals cannot access it in the society. It is necessary for the government and the health care authority in England, to take immediate intervention planning to promote anti-smoking activities in the society so that it would be possible to mitigate the issue of smoking in the UK. In this regard, e-cigarettes can be an alternative option for helping the teenagers and adults to change their habits and improve their wellbeing in long run (Dobbie et al., 2018). E-cigarettes are mainly battery operated system that reduces the vaporise solution to inhale. The vaporised solutions contain glycerol, propylene glycol, nicotine, and small number of carcinogens, heavy metals and small traces of toxicants (Baker et al. 2018). According to PHE (2018), vaping is 95% safe as compared to the conventional smoking and it is considered that e-cigarette can be alternative of smoking cigarettes. E-cigarettes shape like cigar or pen and it does not contain tobacco where the solutions of nicotine, flavourings and other chemicals are useful for the individuals to stop conventional smoking. The World Health Organisation [WHO] (2018) it is considered as nicotine replacement therapy where e-cigarettes are useful in triggering smoking abstinence in the UK. E-cigarettes are widely utilised in the country by the teenagers and young adults to stop the habit of conventional smoking. Graaf et al. (2017) argued that, e-cigarette is also harmful due to the chemicals like nicotine, toxicants and carcinogens that have adverse impacts on the health condition of the individuals. In order to reduce the percentage of conventional smokers, it is essential for the UK government as well as PHE and NHS to take immediate actions and alternative solutions for supporting the smoking abstinence (Baker et al., 2018).

Problem statement

The number of young and adolescent smoker increases at faster rates across the UK mainly in this COVID 19 pandemic situation, which further enhances their risks towards chronic illness such as pulmonary illness or lung cancer. In each year, the number of new smokers is also increasing in the UK, out of which majority are the young people and teenagers (Awan et al. 2017). the adverse impacts of smoking among the young people and the teenagers are serous and hence, it is important to develop alternative way to promote smoking abstinence. In this context whether the use of E-cigarettes can promote the smoking abstinence is now a big question. The recent issue is about whether the e-cigarettes are useful to promote the smoking abstinence or not in the society (Baker et al. 2018).

Rationale for this study

What is the issue?

There is high numbers of premature deaths due to lung cancers and pulmonary illness which is caused by high percentage of smokers in the country. In this COVID 19 situation, the rate of smoking has been increased 2 times in the UK than that in the normal time due to increasing mental illness, depression and anxiety, job loss and lack of employment opportunities, economic slowdown and others (Awan et al., 2017). The government and health authority of the UK are concerned about mitigating the issue of increasing smoking in the society as it has deteriorated the quality of life of the individuals and death rate is also increasing due to conventional smoking. E-cigarettes can be considered as alternation solutions proposed by PHE and there are health authorities, who also agree to the same that e-cigarette can be replaced to tackle the issue of increasing smoking (Awan et al., 2017). However, there are many researchers who shed on light about the risks of e-cigarettes as it contains nicotine, carcinogens, toxicants and heavy metals that pose adverse impact on lung function and cardiac activities. Therefore, it becomes a serious issue that whether the e-cigarettes would be effective in true sense in promoting smoking abstinence in the UK for reducing the vulnerability of people towards the preventable illness and premature deaths.

Why is it issue?

There is controversy about the new alternative strategy of e-cigarettes in promoting the practice of quitting the conventional smoking habits (Fletcher et al., 2017). Some researchers agree that e-cigarettes are useful to stop conventional smoking habits among the individuals; however other group of researchers argue that it is also harmful as it also contains nicotine, carcinogens, toxicants and heavy metals that have serious impacts on the individual’s health condition. More than 34% teenagers are using e-cigarettes to stop the use of conventional smoking, which increases the health and wellbeing of the individuals leading them to wards healthy life style (Chu et al. 2017). The recent issue arose, due to the controversy behind the mind set of usefulness of e-cigarettes in promoting smoking abstinence. There is increasing numbers of change smokers among the individuals aged between 16 to 24 years die to mental pressure and depression and it is high time for the UK government to tackle the issue by exploring alternative solutions (Xiong et al., 2020).

Why is it issue now?

The main issue now is that weather e-cigarettes can be replaced to promote smoking abstinence or not. it is important for the UK government and health authorities to identify the solutions to stop conventional smoking habits among the individuals and research activities on e-cigarettes is mandatory to analyse the benefits and usefulness of it to promote smoking abstinence (de Graaf et al., 2017).

From the above-mentioned graphical representation, it has been seen that, in Blackpool England and North West, the percentage of teenagers who tried cooperates are 33.9%, 18.4% and 24.5% respectively. From the graphical representation it is also clear that the percentage of using e-cigarettes is more than that of using tobacco products (de Graaf et al., 2017). The recent issue is about accepting the solution of e-cigarettes as an alternative to promote smoking abstinence. The main issue is about increasing rate of smokers across the UK in the recent pandemic situation and it is high time for the UK government to tale initiatives for promoting smoking abstinence by raising awareness and improving the practice of e-cigarettes (Brinker et al., 2016). The individuals in Blackpool are concerned about reducing tobacco usage and increasing the use of e-cigarettes for promoting healthy living. It is hereby a serious issue where there are a large numbers of individuals in the England and North West who use tobacco and through this dissertation, it is possible to analyse the impacts of e-cigarettes on smoking, for raising awareness among the smokers in the UK.

How does the research shed light on the topic under consideration?

This research sheds light on using alternative solution of cigarettes in order to promote smoking abstinence. Through the research, it is possible to analyse the usefulness of e-cigarettes in promoting the smoking abstinence (Valentine et al., 2018). There are adverse health impacts of smoking, where the young people and teenagers are suffering a lot from serious health problems. It is hereby high time for the UK government and the health authorities to propose solution of conventional smoking by evaluating e-cigarettes. Through this study, it is hereby effective to evaluate weather e-cigarettes has its impacts on promoting the smoking abstinence or not. In the recent times, the people become concerned and they try to improve their immunity power to lead healthy life. The people are also feeling fear and worry about their own health as well as health of their relatives and family members (Gaiha et al. 2020). New study has shown that, COVID 19 is strongly associated with increasing the motivation to quit smoking (Gaiha et al. 2020). The recent Nicotine and Tobacco Research in UK has shown that, there is a change on tobacco use and reduction of the rates of using cigarettes and e-cigarettes in relation to COVID 19 where there is increasing concern about leading healthy lifestyle (Gaiha, Cheng and Halpern-Felsher, 2020). Online survey carried out in April, 2020 in UK, has shown that the desire to stay safe from COVID 19 attack makes many people to reduce as well as quit their use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes. During the survey more than 20% of the respondent reported that, they quit cigarettes and e-cigarettes to improve their standard of living. Nowadays, the individuals across the UK are concerned about smoking and its effects on human body and thus they refer to quit smoking and stay healthily (Chu, Lin and Wu, 2017). The study is hereby beneficial to analyse the importance of e-cigarettes in order to promote the smoking abstinence in the society.

Aim and objectives of the study

The aim of the research is to determine the impact on e-cigarettes in promoting smoking abstinence in the UK. Through this study, it is possible to demonstrate the phenomenon of using e-cigarettes to help the smokers for assisting them to quit conventional cigarettes in the UK to lead healthy lifestyle.

The objectives of the study are,

To analyse that whether e-cigarettes are useful to promote smoking abstinence To evaluate the reason behind increasing rate of smoking during this COVID-19 situation than normal condition in the UK To determine the benefits of using e-cigarettes over conventional cigarettes To evaluate the limitation or drawbacks of e-cigarettes, while it comes to health and wellbeing of people in the UK To recommend the strategies that can be implemented by the UK government to modify the manufacture and use of e-cigarettes in promoting smoking abstinence and protecting the smokers from the preventable illness and deaths

Research questions

What are the impacts of smoking on people health and wellbeing where in COVID 19 pandemic, smoking is increasing among the individuals?

What are the impacts of e-cigarettes on smokers?

Are the e-cigarettes useful in promoting smoking abstinence?

What is the limitation or drawback of e-cigarettes, while it comes to health and wellbeing of people?

What would be the recommended suggestions taken by the UK government to modify the manufacture and use of e-cigarettes in promoting smoking abstinence and protecting smokers from the preventable illness and deaths?

Research hypothesis

Null hypothesis: There is no impact of e-cigarettes in promoting smoking abstinence

Research hypothesis: E-cigarettes play an importance role in promoting smoking abstinence in the society

Research Method

Research approach

There are three types of research approaches which are positivism, realism and interpretivism. Through positivism research philosophy, it is possible to connect the social activities with theoretical perspective as well as gather first-hand information for more in-depth analysis and evaluation in this study for analysing the effects of e-cigarettes on promoting smoking abstinence. In this particular study, the researcher has used positivism research approach which assist the researchers to analyses the current smoking trend in the society during COVID 19 pandemic. Positivism assists this research study to analyse that whether the current trend of using E-cigarettes will assist people in this pandemic situation to quit the conventional smoking habits.

Research Design

Research design is about deductive and induction and in this particular research, it is beneficial for the researcher a suitable design to progress in the study and analyse the research topic. In this study, researcher will utilise deductive research approach which assist researchers to use the existing theories and models to analyse the collected data. Hence, the deductive approach is beneficial in this study, where the researcher will be able to collect all the necessary information about the research and analyse it to fulfil the above mentioned research aim and objectives.

Data collection method

Data collection method is crucial for gathering the right and valid data and information in the study so that the researcher would be able to conduct the analysis and fulfil the research objectives. There are two type of data collection method, one is primary and another is secondary. The researcher in this study chooses mixed method, by selecting both the primary and secondary data collection method. Through the primary data collection, it is possible to arrange survey for collecting the first hand data directly from the respondents. The survey questionnaire will be developed with close ended questions and it is distributed through using social media. On the other hand, the secondary data is also collected through reviewing the secondary sources of information including books, journals, articles and online magazines related to the e-cigarette activities and promotional planning to support smoking abstinence. Through secondary data collection, it is possible for the researcher to review the background of the issue and improve knowledge so that it would be possible to analyse the primary data on the basis of secondary information related to e-cigarettes and its impacts to promote the smoking abstinence. Mixed method is hereby beneficial to gather authentic data and information for further analysis and fulfilling the research aim and objective.

Sample group

Random sampling technique is utilised in this study to distribute the questionnaire and collect authentic answers from the respondents. Here 60 people belonging to the age group 18-24 year are recruited for carrying out the study. The inclusion criteria for selecting the participants are that all the participants are smokers (regular or occasional) or ex-smokers. Non-smokers are excluded from the list. Here, the respondents are recruited through using social media and thus the researcher is able to distribute the questionnaire through social media to gather answers. Here research associates have used Facebook to find out the regular and occasional smokers and ex-smokers in Lavenham. The participants are invited through sending them formal e-mail in which there are the softcopy of the consent letter, invitation letter and the information letter regarding the reteach project. There are some exclusion criteria and the study excludes the breastfeeding and pregnant women, the people reported to have heart attack, sever angina and stroke in the last three weeks. The research also excludes the individuals in the society who have medical issues such as COPD, allergies and asthma. Hence, random sampling as well as the inclusion and exclusion criteria is effective for this study to engage the participants and gather authentic data and information about using e-cigarettes for promoting smoking abstinence.

Ethical consideration

For conducting the research efficiently, it is necessary to develop ethical considerations and follow the practices so that the researcher would be able to gather relevant and valid data and information for further in-depth analysis and evaluation. In this particular study, the researchers focus on maintaining validity and authenticity of the entire research process. Researcher ensures non-maleficence to the human subjects who are involved in the research throughout the entire research study. The researcher always maintains professional accountability by following the codes of conducts associated with carrying out useful research such as using polite and friendly attitude towards each participant, maintaining fair and synergistic work environment and maintaining loyal as well as trustworthy relationship with colleagues and participants through enhancing communication and internal collaboration. The researcher also assures the high level of beneficence of this research study that will assist future researchers to get valuables information regarding the use of e-cigarettes for supporting the individuals who are trying to quit conventional smoking habits. The researcher ensures high transferability of the research finding and accountability, which refers that, the research findings can be used and applied by researchers in the other research study on the same topic. The researcher ensures confidentiality of the personal and professional data of participants by implementing Data Protection Act 1998. The participants and their responses are presented anonymously for protecting their personal details from unauthorised access. Researcher also assures that the autonomy and dignity of each participant will be respected throughout the research, where consent form will be provided to get the consent of the participants and convince them to take active part in the study. Here, researcher ensures that participants can leave the data collection process at any time whenever they think to do so for any reason. There is voluntary participation of each participant through signing the consent form which also helps the researcher to gather authentic and valid data ethically and the researcher will not force anyone for participation, rather through communication and cooperation, it is possible to convince them to take active participation in the study.

Literature review

E-cigarettes

E-cigarettes are known as different name such as e-cigs, e-hookahs, vapes, vape pens and tank system and these are in different shapes and sizes. E-cigarettes are less harmful as compared to the regular smoking, for which there are many people in the UK who are trying to use e-cigarettes to quit smoking. E-cigarettes are battery powered devices that work by heating a liquid into am aerosol that the user inhale and exhales (Jackson et al., 2020). The e-cigarette liquid typically contains nicotine, propylene glycol, glycerine, flavourings, and other chemicals (Yong et al., 2017). Nicotine is an addictive drug found in regular cigarettes and other tobacco products are also there. Research shows that, e-cigarettes aerosol often contains substances that can be harmful including the flavours and chemicals which is directly linked with lung cancer, metal like lead and other cancer causing materials. The companies can sell the e- cigarettes by maintaining the regulations of Food and Drug Administration (FDA). For example, only people aged 21 and over cam purchase the e-cigarettes from the market. E-cigarettes are not approved by the FDA guidelines as a quit smoking aid and there are limited evidences about usefulness of using e-cigarettes for quitting smoking (Kocar et al., 2018). Generally, toxic or carcinogenic substances have been found in some e-cigarette aerosols, but at lower concentrations than in tobacco smoke. E- Cigarettes are utilise by adults for waiting smoking, but there is less evidences about using e-cigarettes to promote smoking absentee (Meernik et al., 2019). However, e- cigarettes contains nicotine which is also harmful for the human body and hence, it is not a sustainable product to help the conventional smokers, rather it can be utilized to quit smoking and promote smoking absentee (Valentine et al., 2018). The government initiatives to tobacco control interventions through Tobacco Control Plan for England 2017-22 and Anti-smoking campaigns are fruitful where the government tries to inform and educate the customers, treat nicotine dependence, use the economic incentives to increase or decrease the cost of using tobacco and develop policies that limit the opportunity to use, manufacture and sell tobacco products, these are effective initiatives taken by the UK government to control the tobacco use among the individuals (Hartmann-Boyce, Begh and Aveyard, 2018).

Health Risks of E-cigarettes

Smoking is injurious to health and leads the person to death by chronic disease like lung cancer and for this; there are alternative uses of smoking, such as e-cigarettes or vaping, smokeless tobacco and water pipes. The liquid in e-cigarettes contain flavourings, nicotine, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), or cannabinoid (CBD) oils and other chemicals, which are harmful for the individuals. E-cigarettes usually contain nicotine which makes the tobacco products addicted. E-cigarettes are harmful for the youth and adults due to its liquids that contain harmful chemicals, heavy lead flavourings because lung cancer as well as the chemicals is related to the cancer causing chemicals (Kulik, Lisha and Glantz, 2018). Hence, e- cigarettes can be considered as the nicotine based products which are harmful for the human being. Vaping is also harmful that causes rapid onset of coughing, breathing difficulties, nausea and vomiting, weight loss and diarrhoea. Hence, due to the chemical in e- cigarettes, it is not considered as good as to quit smoking; however, in long run the individuals can quit smoking through using e- cigarettes. Using e- cigarettes is linked with several health problems, such as severe lung injuries, seizures, nicotine addiction and poisoning as well as increasing the risk of health attacks and strokes (Rigotti, 2020).

Data findings

The data are being collected through empowering the respondents in the survey questionnaire where the exclusion and inclusion criteria are effective. There are some exclusion criteria such as the breastfeeding and pregnant women, the people reported to have heart attack, sever angina and stroke in the last three weeks as well as the individuals in the society who have medical issues such as COPD, allergies and asthma. The inclusion criteria are the individuals, who smoke and the non-smokers are excluded from this survey study. There are total 60 respondents who try to share their feedback through this close ended questionnaire. The findings are represented further.

1. What is your age?

50% of the employees are from the age group of 18 to 19 years. 33% participants are from 20 to 21 years and remaining 16% people are aged between 22 and 25 years.

2. At which age you started smoking?

As per the findings, 33% people start smoking below the age of 16 years and 50% participant start conventional smoking after 16 years. There are 16% respondents who smoke after 18 years age.

3. Does this e-cigarettes use have assisted you to quit conventional smoking?

There is linkage between using e-cigarettes and quitting conventional smoking, and as per the feedback, 75% people agree that e-cigarettes are useful to quit conventional smoking. However, 16% people do not agree to the same as they thing that e-cigarettes are also harmful for the human being due to chemical and liquids. However, 8% respondents do not provide any valid answers.

4. Are there any health benefits of switching to e-cigarettes from the conventional smoking?

This question is about the health benefits of using e-cigarettes and as per the findings, 58% people reveal that it helps to improve breathing capacity and 16% people provide the feedback that it normalises breathing rates. 8% share that it improves strong muscle capacity and 3% individuals agree that it is helpful for healthy lung as compared to conventional smoking. Remaining 13% individuals refer that it is helpful to improve the metabolic activities in body. Hence, different people share their opinion and all the individuals are that using e-cigarettes is helpful as compared to the conventional cigarettes.

5. How long have you used an e-cigarette?

As per the findings, 20% of the respondents use e-cigarettes less than 6 months. 25% and 23.3% people use it 6 months to 1 year and 1 to 2 years respectively. 18.3% people use it more than 2 years and 13.3% people reveal that they never use e-cigarettes; rather they are using conventional cigarettes.

6. Why did you start using the e- cigarette?

There are several reasons for which the people are using e-cigarettes and the major reasons are such as quitting Smoking, healthier option to enjoy nicotine, use when tobacco is prohibited, enjoy the flavour and trying something new. In this regard, most of the individuals about 33.3% individuals reveal that they are using e-cigarettes in order to improve smoking cessation. In addition to this, about 16.7% people stated that they find it healthier option to enjoy nicotine rather than conventional smoking habit. 20% use e-cigarettes when tobacco become prohibit to use as well as 16.7% individuals use e-cigarettes for enjoying the flavours an remaining 13.3% people use it for trying something new. Hence, there are several reasons, for which the huge numbers of people are using e-cigarettes in the recent years.

7. How often do you use the e-cigarette or vape?

As per the feedback of the individuals against this question, 11.6% individuals use e-cigarette less than a few times a month, 16.7% people smoke a few times a months. Additionally, 16.7% and 25% people use a few times a week and about once a day respectively. Remaining 30% people is more than once a day. Hence, as per the findings, there are huge numbers of people using e-cigarettes more than once a day.

8. Do you think vaping is safer than using cigarettes?

As per the respondent’s feedback, most of the individuals about 60% individuals provide the answer that vaping is safer than using cigarettes and 6.7% people do not provide any comments. 33.3% individuals do not think that, vaping is safer than conventional cigarettes. As per the analysis, vaping is safer than conventional cigarettes, but vaping also has its harmful side effects.

9. Does your country have a tobacco prevention program?

There are several government programs designed to support the smoking absentee so that the individuals are able to quit smoking and improve their living style through healthy behaviour. Smoking is injurious to health and the government take the initiative to intervene in the society through advertisement and banning the tobacco products so that the people can quit smoking. As per this question, 50% respondents agree that there is government intervention for a tobacco prevention program; however 8.3% people provide neutral answers. Remaining 4.7%inividuals provide negative answers as there is lack of execution and implementation of the government program to ban the tobacco products for helping the smoking absentee to quit smoking.

10. Do you prefer to use e-cigarettes as the alternative to promote smoking absentee?

As per the findings, 60% people agree that they prefer to use e-cigarettes as the alternative to promote smoking absentee as they believe that using e-cigarettes is less harmful as compared to using conventional cigarettes. On the other hand, remaining percentage of the respondents reveals that the e-cigarettes are not useful to quit conventional smoking as there are still harmful impacts of consuming inhaling the liquids in e-cigarettes. Hence, most of the people prefer to use e-cigarettes for promoting the smoking absentee as well as quit smoking for better living standard.

Discussion

There are huge numbers of people, who try to switch their preferences toward e-cigarettes as they feel that e-cigarettes are helpful as compared to the conventional smoking. Hereby, in the UK, the numbers of e-cigarette smokers is increasing at a rapid rate, where the individuals become health conscious and they try to quit the conventional smoking (Kitzen et al., 2019). As per the findings, the individuals are the smokers and they try e-cigarettes out of several reasons, such as for using smoking, tasting the new flavours, enjoying and others. Most of the respondents agree that, they start using e-cigarettes to quit the conventional smoking, as the government has their intervention programs related to reducing tobacco usage, and this further raise awareness among the individuals related to quitting tobacco use for living a healthy life style. As per the findings, the individuals try to use e- cigarette for quitting smoking and reducing the use of tobacco. There is high purchasing practice for the e-cigarettes in the market as well as the individuals enjoy vaping of e- cigarette for smoking cessation (Lee, Ahn and Cheong, 2019). As per the findings, most of the people in the UK prefer to use e-cigarettes as the alternative to promote smoking absentee, where the government intervention program is also fruitful to raise concern among the individuals where the people are trying to switch their choice towards using e- cigarette rather than conventional smoking. Most of the people use it once or twice as day and it also become addicted for the individuals, who enjoy e-cigarettes due to its flavour and vaping system (Farsalinos and Niaura, 2020). As per the data findings and analysis, it can be stated that, e- cigarettes can be utilised to promote smoking absentee, where the individuals try to quit conventional smoking due to harmful effects of tobacco. Most of the young generations in the recent pandemic era become concerned about maintaining healthy life style and they try to quit smoking by switching their preferences to e- cigarettes. However, due to the chemicals and lead in the e- cigarettes, there are still harmful impacts on human body (Pierce et al., 2020). Vaping is also harmful as it raises the scope of lung cancer. Hence, using e-cigarettes is not a sustainable solution for maintaining health condition, but as per the findings, it can be utilised to promote smoking absentee in the society, where addiction towards tobacco and conventional smoking can be mitigated (Owusu et al., 2019). The government intervention program in the recent years as well as FDA guidelines are also effective to raise awareness among the people in the UK and guide them to reduce the use of tobacco products, by tobacco ban, advertisement to promote healthy lifestyle and share the harmful effects of using tobacco as well as banning the transport and selling of tobacco products. In this regard, the people switch their choices towards e- cigarettes, as most of the individuals think that, using e-cigarettes is safe as compared to the conventional cigarettes and thus it can be stated that e- cigarettes is considered as a good source to promote smoking absentee and reduce the tobacco usage among the individuals (Zborovskaya, 2017).

Conclusion

The research and data findings are useful to identify the use of e-cigarettes in the UK where the young generations and the people who are smoking absentee are trying to switch their preferences towards using e-cigarettes as compared to the conventional smoking. The aim of the research is to determine the impact on e-cigarettes in promoting smoking abstinence in the UK and through the analysis it has been explored that, e- cigarettes useful to quit smoking and reduce the use of tobacco products, hence the alternative hypothesis is accepted. There is government intervention in the UK which is also playing a crucial role to raise awareness among the public and influence them to maximise their standard of living by leading a healthy lifestyle. Hence, they try to quit smoking in the recent endemic situation of COVID-19, to improve their immunity power, and thus there are high numbers of people using e-cigarettes to quit smoking. Through this study, it is also possible to meet the research objectives which are discussed below.

Meeting objectives

To analyse that whether e-cigarettes are useful to promote smoking abstinence

E-cigarettes is fruitful for promoting smoking absentee, where as per the findings, most of the citizens in the UK refer to use e-cigarettes to quit smoking. They find that conventional smoking is much more harmful as compared to e-cigarettes.

To evaluate the reason behind increasing rate of smoking during this COVID-19 situation than normal condition in the UK

The major reasons behind increasing rate of smoking during this COVID-19 situation than normal condition in the UK are lack of job opportunities, job loss, economic slowdown, breakdown of the small and medium sized business, international lock down and social distancing as well as lack of educational programs and participation in the school and colleges as well as mental illness like depression, anxiety and COPD for such recent pandemic situation.

To determine the benefits of using e-cigarettes over conventional cigarettes

As per the findings, Vaping is less harmful than smoking, and there is no such tobacco substance for which the people can reduce the use of tobacco.

To evaluate the limitation or drawbacks of e-cigarettes, while it comes to health and wellbeing of people in the UK

The liquid in e-cigarettes contains several flavourings, nicotine, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), or cannabinoid (CBD) oils and other chemicals, which are harmful for the individuals. E-cigarettes usually contain nicotine which is harmful for the human being as well as vaping also causes lung cancer.

To recommend the strategies that can be implemented by the UK government to modify the manufacture and use of e-cigarettes in promoting smoking abstinence and protecting the smokers from the preventable illness and deaths

It is hereby essential for the policy makers and industrialist to develop much more sustainable products to quit smoking and promote smoking absentee. For this, it is essential to create alternative e-cigarettes with flavours and less chemical materials as well as it would be important to reduce the nicotine in the e-cigarettes, so that its harmful impacts can be mitigated. It is important to implement Prescription nicotine in a nasal spray or inhaler and make availability of the nicotine patches, gum and lozenges Over-the-counter.

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