Demonising vaping is prompting young people to switch to tobacco as mixed messaging suggests they are equally as dangerous, experts warn

Scare stories and misinformation about the harms of vaping could be triggering a rise in young people smoking, experts have warned. Last week a report revealed that a decades-long decline in the number of smokers in England had flatlined since the Covid pandemic. Researchers suggested this was likely due to more young people starting to smoke. Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health told this newspaper that she believes misinformation about the dangers of vapes is partly to blame. 'All the negative press around vaping hasn't helped,' she said. 'Suggestions that vapes need to be in plain packaging, branded with health warnings and kept out of sight, like tobacco, just give the impression that both are equally harmful when that's not the case.'