International health experts are today calling on the UK to defend safer nicotine alternatives as a major new report from Smoke Free Sweden shows they are saving lives worldwide.
The landmark report, The Safer Nicotine Revolution: Global Lessons, Healthier Futures, highlights the UK as a world leader in cutting smoking by embracing harm reduction strategies. By integrating vaping into NHS quit-smoking services, the UK has driven smoking rates to historic lows while delivering measurable improvements in public health.
"Britain is proving that safer nicotine alternatives work," said Martin Cullip, international fellow at the Taxpayers Protection Alliance's Consumer Center and UK-based commentator on harm reduction, who co-authored the report.
"Vaping has helped millions of smokers quit, prevented thousands of deaths and reduced pressure on the NHS. This is one of the UK's greatest public health achievements of the last decade and we must not let it be undermined by over-regulation or misinformation."
Since 2011, smoking rates in the UK have nearly halved, from 20.2% to 11.9%. While 5.5 million adults now vape, more than half of them have quit smoking entirely. Research projects that vaping will prevent 166,000 premature deaths by 2052.
The health gains are already visible: cardiovascular deaths have declined by nearly 20%, deaths from COPD and cancer are down and smoking-related hospital admissions have fallen by tens of thousands every year. Even short-term studies show benefits, with smokers who switch to vaping recording significant improvements in blood pressure within a month.
The UK's achievements stand alongside international success stories. Sweden has cut smoking to just 5.3%, the lowest in Europe, with lung cancer rates 61% below the EU average.
In Japan, heated tobacco products have halved cigarette sales in a decade, while New Zealand has halved smoking since 2018 through the promotion of vaping and heated products, with sharp reductions in hospitalisations and deaths from smoking-related diseases.
"The UK has shown the world what is possible by embracing safer nicotine products," added Cullip. "But with ongoing regulatory debates, there is a real danger that excessive restrictions could undo this progress, reduce access to alternatives and ultimately cost lives. If the government wants to achieve a smoke-free future, it must continue to support these products rather than restrict them."
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250917528008/en/
Contacts:
Jessica Perkins
info@smokefreesweden.org
