All About The Myth Gateway Effect

The term sounds somehow mysterious and could also come from quantum physics or space exploration. CAK will explain it to you in detail. “Gateway Effect”. What does this mean? In principle, it describes an effect that could also be equated with the term “gateway drug”, i.e. the claim that e-cigarettes would sooner or later lead to people starting to smoke tobacco cigarettes. In young people in particular, the inhibition threshold for conventional smoking would drop. The e-cigarette as a gateway to tobacco cigarettes? How does this coincide with the arguments and, above all, the evidence of the other side that e-cigarettes are much more an exit from the realm of tobacco smokers, not the entrance, which is also proven by these studies and investigations, which also refer to obtain the e-cigarette as a quit aid for smokers:

• British Medical Journal
• US National Library Of Medicine / National Institute Of Health
• E-cigarette research

Many researchers have asked themselves the same question and they came to the following conclusion; the gateway effect of the e-cigarette is a myth. Vapers don’t become smokers…certainly not because of vaping. But on the contrary. Polls and reports in the US continued to show that…

• …there is no Gateway Effect (research team from the Universities of Buffalo & Michigan).
• …the majority of the FEW young vapers prefer liquids completely without nicotine.
• …numerous scientists criticize the information policy of the World Lung Foundation.
• …the number of tobacco smokers has decreased while the proportion of vapers is increasing.

“The national trend does not in any way support the argument that vaping encourages smoking” – Professor Dr. Lynn Kozlowski, Professor of Public Health (University of Buffalo)

The Refutation World Lung Foundation

It all actually started with the statements and publications of the World Lung Foundation. But on closer inspection, these turned out to be unfounded theories, not scientifically based works or studies, let alone evidence. The World Lung Foundation announced via twitter that a study would show how e-cigarettes promote later smoking of tobacco cigarettes, especially among young people. Large media outlets like the Scottish Sun probably didn’t have time to reflect and reported completely uncritically: “E-cigarettes encourage students to smoke!” – In the meantime, both the study and the report in the Scottish Sun have been removed from the Internet. We would have liked to link them here.

Now US researchers from the University of Buffalo, N.Y., and their colleagues from the University of Michigan have scientifically examined the thesis of the Gateway effect. Their result is unequivocal: the gateway effect does not exist! The study on the topic can be found on the website of the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. It was written by Dr. Lynn Kozlowski and her co-author Dr. Kenneth Warner, professor of public health at the University of Michigan Institute of Public Health.

But more was noticed in the studies and research. For example, that the World Lung Foundation based its arguments and statements on studies that showed gross methodological errors or contained no evidence at all for the gateway effect that the organization warned against with such dramatic words. And it gets even better. The warnings were based in part solely on the testimony of a 17-year-old student who said: “I think those who use e-cigarettes will also become users of tobacco cigarettes just to know what it feels like and end up addicted become of it.”. Incidentally, this was noted by a professor at the Boston University School of Public Health who has been campaigning for tobacco control for 25 years: Dr. Michael Seal. He examined these false reports more closely and his reaction was not long in coming.

No wonder, because Dr. During his research, Warner encountered numerous contradictions and crude statistical methods:

• one puff on a tobacco cigarette within six months was enough to be classified as a “smoker” in the study cited by the World Lung Foundation.
• one study presented only four e-cigarette users who had never smoked before and smoked twice after vaping within 12 months. That was enough evidence for the World Lung Foundation that the Gateway Effect was a reality.

“Once again, independent scientists have confirmed what we have been communicating for a long time. On the one hand, it is extremely gratifying that more and more positive studies are being published and that even researchers are publicly denouncing the misleading of the population and politicians; on the other hand, it is shameful that the opponents of the e-cigarette – whatever their motives – keep spreading false claims and thus influence the formation of opinion” – Dustin Dahlmann

The University of Hamburg also studied the gateway effect

But she didn’t find any. There was no evidence of a so-called e-cigarette gateway. Therefore, almost at the same time as the dubious posting by the World Lung Foundation, she published an interim report on a scientific study by the Center for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research at the University of Hamburg (ZIS). The ongoing survey with the somewhat cumbersome title (that’s the way it is with scientific studies) “Survey on consumption habits and motives of e-cigarette consumers in Germany” already reveals clear indications that the discussion about an alleged gateway effect through e- Cigarettes, without any scientific basis. The basis is the results of an online survey among e-cigarette users, lasting about 20 minutes.

The aim of the University of Hamburg was to motivate 1,000 people to take part. At the end of 2015 there were almost 4,000. Since there are always incorrect data or incompletely completed questions in surveys, around 15% of the participants had to be excluded. The findings of the ZIS are therefore now based on approx. 3,300 data sets. And these massively weaken the discussion on the subject of e-cigarette gateways, which opponents of e-cigarettes like to fuel again and again.

Survey results from the University of Hamburg on the gateway effect

Here you can clearly see that a gateway effect cannot be detected. In the case of the 91% of ex-smokers in particular, it is clear that for almost all of them the tobacco cigarette is no longer an issue for another four weeks. Even more, namely 93%, can no longer imagine smoking tobacco in the future.

Even among the 8% of dual users, i.e. people who smoke both vaping and tobacco cigarettes, it is clear that the e-cigarette is increasingly replacing the tobacco cigarette and does not motivate consumption. 96% of them smoke less tobacco since the e-cigarette, 69% would like to stop completely.

Anyone who is good at arithmetic may have notes that 1% of the survey participants are still missing – the new entrants.

Conclusion & complete infographic for the survey by the University of Hamburg

The claims surrounding the gateway effect of e-cigarettes are completely unfounded. It is much more clear that tobacco cigarettes are becoming increasingly unattractive for vapers and that e-cigarettes are helping many ex-smokers who have already failed with nicotine replacement products to switch from tobacco cigarettes. And not only the study by the University of Hamburg shows this very clearly. There are now numerous recognized international studies that show that vaping e-cigarettes does not tempt you to smoke conventional tobacco cigarettes! It turns out to be the complete opposite. And so has the scaremongering by newspapers, which saw youth in particular as vulnerable to the e-cigarette gateway. Only 0.12% of all survey participants were under the age of 18 at all. And in this age group, only 0.03% stated that they had never smoked in their life. So just one person. All others were smokers at a young age BEFORE they dared to switch to e-cigarettes.

The survey by the University of Hamburg shows above all that long-time smokers expect e-cigarettes to help them. How can that be when it supposedly makes you want to enjoy a smelly, bad-tasting tobacco cigarette? Even if one only uses common sense, it should be clear to many that almost everyone prefers an aromatic taste, often completely without nicotine, before reaching for the old fag. Or would you switch from cola to bitter medicine just because the latter might. also contains caffeine?

Recommended read:

• The Battle Of Decisions Vape vs Smoke
• Vaping Could Lead to Healthier Lifestyles for Adult Smokers
• The Difference Between Disposable Vape Kits and Pod Kits