The latest cigarette sales data from the US shows a dramatic fall in tobacco sales as vaping products rise sharply. This is a huge win for public health!

In the latest month, cigarette sales have fallen by 8% compared to the same time last year. At the same time, the sale of vaping products continues to rise.

Source: Nielsen data from Wells Fargo

The most plausible explanation for the dramatic fall in cigarette sales is that vaping is replacing smoking.

Cigarettes killed 480,000 US citizens last year. Unfortunately one person died from a lithium battery malfunction from a vaping device.

However, in Australia we are seeing the opposite effect. In the last national sales data released in the National Accounts in March 2018, cigarette sales ROSE by 2.6% from December 2016 to December 2017.

Vaping is essentially banned in Australia.

Posted by Colin Mendelsohn, colin@athra.org.au

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