News on April 11, it’s terrible, the UK has another moth in the field of electronic cigarettes.

The love of e-cigarettes in the UK can be said to be endless. Not only did the official research on e-cigarettes reduce the harm by 95%, but also opened e-cigarette shops into hospitals.

Although the recent use of illegal disposable e-cigarettes in the UK has made teenagers a bit disturbed, the government still supports e-cigarettes and still defends the right of adult smokers to switch to e-cigarettes.

They are even thinking about using e-cigarettes as a medical product to allow smoking cessation, which is indeed the envy of e-cigarette users all over the world.

The latest UK figures show:

In 2021, the smoking rate in the UK is between 12.7% and 14.9%, which is equivalent to 5.6 million to 6.6 million adults smoking; the prevalence rate of e-cigarettes is 6.9% to 7.1%, which is equivalent to 3.1 million to 3.2 million adults using e-cigarettes.

What is the UK planning to do with e-cigarettes recently?

The British government said on Tuesday it would encourage up to one million smokers to switch from cigarettes to e-cigarettes and even offer financial incentives to pregnant women in a world-first.

Under the scheme, almost one in five smokers will receive a vaping starter kit as well as support to help them quit, the Department of Health (DoH) said.

Pregnant women will also receive a £400 voucher to help them quit smoking as part of the government's aim to reduce the number of smokers from the current 13 per cent to five per cent or less.

Health Secretary Neil O'Brien said in a speech later on Tuesday that as many as two-thirds of lifetime smokers will die from smoking. Cigarettes are the only product that can kill a person if used incorrectly.

Free kits will be offered to nearly one in five smokers in the UK, despite overwhelming evidence about the health risks of vaping.

"We will provide new quit help for one million smokers. We will fund a new national smoking cessation program - the first of its kind in the world."

The Department of Health said that while the global average smoking rate was higher than in the UK, tobacco remained the highest preventable cause of death and disease in the country.

The British government is spending £68m in 2021-22 on local authorities taking steps to get people to quit smoking, prompting 100,000 smokers to quit and easing the pressure on Britain's overwhelmed National Health Service.

However, vaping has come under criticism, with health officials warning that its popularity among children is exposing them to chemicals whose long-term effects are unclear.

Health service figures show that 9% of 11- to 15-year-olds in the UK have used e-cigarettes in 2021, up from 6% three years ago.

The UK government has said it will set up a £3m-backed enforcement team to prevent the illegal sale of e-cigarettes to under-18s.

The NHS has long suggested that e-cigarettes can help smokers quit, but has never given people the devices to start quitting.

Vaping devices typically cost around £20-30, with replacement pods costing even more. Critics say e-cigarettes are not particularly effective at helping people quit smoking.

The UK government is working towards a goal of being smoke-free by 2030, which means reducing smoking rates to 5% or less.

Professor Martin McKee, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: "Given the pressure on the NHS, one does wonder if this is a good use of resources, given that a big increase in tobacco taxes would be more effective.

"E-cigarettes have only been shown to help people quit smoking when they're part of a supervised, time-limited behavioral support package — and even then, they're not particularly good."

"We need to focus on plain packaging, ban attractive vaping flavors, and stop advertising of vaping products."

Starter kits will give smokers a choice of products, strengths and flavours, while they will receive support to quit smoking.

It is understood that users can apply to community health centers or smoking cessation services.

More than 3 million people in the UK use e-cigarettes, and experts agree that e-cigarettes are safer than smoking because they contain nicotine in liquid form, which is heated and turned into a vapor that is inhaled, avoiding harmful tobacco smoke.

Proponents of vaping point to a British study estimating that in 2017, vaping helped more than 50,000 smokers in the UK quit.

But the World Health Organization warns that there are many studies that question the use of e-cigarettes to quit smoking.

The national smoking cessation program will cost around £45m over two years, according to official estimates.

Officials say 9% of women in the UK smoke during pregnancy and hope all will be able to quit by the end of the year with financial incentives and behavioral support.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said: "E-cigarettes have increased a smoker's chances of successfully quitting, as have vouchers for pregnant smokers, so these are all steps in the right direction. A welcome step, but not enough.

British e-cigarette related reports:

1. The British government released the most comprehensive research report: E-cigarettes are much less harmful than smoking, significantly reducing exposure to harmful substances, and long-term risks still need to be studied

2. Heavy! UK to become the first country in the world to license e-cigarettes as a medical product to quit smoking

3. The British Ministry of Health officially announced 8 truths about e-cigarettes: nicotine does not cause cancer, and there is no doubt about the harm reduction

4. The UK really sold e-cigarettes into hospitals: it also publicly advertised that the harm reduction was 95%