BBC News is reporting that:
The concern electronic cigarettes are a gateway to smoking might be unfounded, the first official UK figures suggest.
See: E-cigarette 'lure' fears might be unfounded (BBC News)
Inevitably there's a rider:
Most of the figures from the ONS are for the year 2013, so it is possible that the picture is still changing.
Nevertheless the stats support those who say there's no evidence vaping leads to smoking.
In contrast those public health campaigners who have stoked up fears, warning of an apocalyptic future in which hundreds of thousands of non-smokers (including children) use e-cigarettes as a gateway to smoking – well, they're looking pretty stupid today.
The question though is this:
How many more "unfounded" claims will do the rounds before people finally recognise the truth about the anti-smoking industry?
Nothing tobacco control campaigners say should be taken seriously until it is throughly investigated with proper research and genuine statistics (not estimates and calculations).
As one or two people commented here last week, perhaps e-cigarettes will generate the cracks that will see the edifice of public health collapse in a heap, buried beneath its own hubris.
I'm not holding my breath though.