Disposable vapes are to be banned in the UK, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced, to counter the rising number of children and young people taking up the habit.
PM Sunak made the widely expected announcement after growing concern from anti-smoking groups about the growing number of 11-17-year-olds trying vaping.
Health charity Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) reported that 7.6% of 11-17-year-olds now vape regularly or occasionally, up from 4.1% in 2020. Vaping under the age of 18 is illegal in the UK, but the law is evidently being flouted.
Announcing the plans, Sunak said: “Children shouldn’t be vaping, we don’t want them to get addicted, we still don’t understand the full long-term health impacts,” he said.
While vaping is less harmful to health than smoking, due to the absence of tobacco, vapes do still contain chemicals and have nicotine, which makes them addictive. Also, as vaping is still a relatively recent thing, there is no long-term research into the effects its use can have on health and the risks of it.
Another part of the proposals will see the government being able to tell shops that sell refillable vapes to keep them out of sight of children. In addition, more fines will be brought in for any shopkeeper that illegally sells vapes to children and young people.
Disposable vapes are often cheaper than the reusable ones, and often come in bright colours and a wide range of flavours, which are said by critics to appeal to children. There will be a further consultation on plans to ban some flavours of vape, which are said to appeal to children.
There have also been concerns about the environmental impact of disposable vapes, which are made of plastic and often not recycled.
This is part of a wider government initiative to create a ‘smoke-free generation’, which includes a proposal to ban the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after January 1, 2009.
