The UK government on Monday revealed plans to outlaw the sale of disposable vapes in an effort to slow the surge in youth vaping.
The idea would require corporations to use simple packaging and impose limitations on the flavours that might be marketed in an effort to make the items less enticing to youngsters. Additionally, it would limit the way vapes are promoted in stores.
“The long-term impacts of vaping are unknown, and the nicotine within them can be highly addictive, so while vaping can be a useful tool to help smokers quit, marketing vapes to children is not acceptable,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated in a statement. Adult smokers who wanted to stop would still be allowed to get vape kits, he added.
According to a spring 2023 Action on Smoking and Health study, the percentage of kids experimenting with vaping has increased by 50% over the previous year. According to the government, the percentage of vapers between the ages of 11 and 17 has climbed nearly nine times in the past two years, with disposable vapes being a “key driver” of the surge.
The government’s most recent attempt to usher in “the first smoke-free generation” is anticipated to take effect by the end of this year or early in 2025. The government stated in October that it intended to enact legislation that would forbid anybody born on or after January 1, 2009, from ever being able to lawfully purchase tobacco products.
The notion of outlawing throwaway vape pens is not unique to the UK. Due to health concerns about teenagers, Australia started to prohibit the import of disposable e-cigarettes earlier this month. A measure to outlaw the items was overwhelmingly passed by the French National Assembly in December in an effort to safeguard youth and lessen environmental damage.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended all countries outlaw vape sales or take other steps that would make the devices less enticing to the general public, such as pricing the product or restricting certain flavours or nicotine concentrations.
The WHO Director for Health Promotion, Dr. Ruediger Krech, stated that “there is an alarming increase in the use of e-cigarettes among children and young people, with rates exceeding adult use in many countries.”
