Why Are Rising Youth Vaping Rates a Concern?
To solve a rising pandemic of young vaping, doctors and public health experts are urging the UK government to prohibit flavoured and throwaway vapes. The British Medical Association (BMA) has underlined that quick action is required to shield young people from the dangers related to vaping. The BMA claims that these items, which are meant to allure youngsters and guide them into nicotine addiction, include pleasing hues, branding, and flavours like bubble gum and candy floss. Estimates point to around 8% of 11–17-year-olds vaping right now.
What Urgent Actions Are Needed for More Protection?
The BMA has brought attention to the concerning increase among young people in vaping. “There is no doubt we live in a vaping epidemic,” the organisation said. “With one in ten persons currently vaping, vape use has skyrocketed within the past ten years. The rise in young people who vape, with roughly six times more 11-17-year-olds vaping currently compared with ten years ago, raises considerably more concerns, though. The BMA underlined that although vapes can be a useful aid for adults trying to stop smoking, they have no place in the lives of children and young people. “We cannot afford to gamble when it comes to safeguarding their health,” the organisation said.
What Regulations and Measures Are Being Proposed?
The BMA has suggested numerous actions to handle the matter:
- A prohibition on any other vape taste except tobacco
- Prohibiting throwaway vapes
- Like current rules on cigarettes, limitations on images, colour, and branding on packaging and vape devices
- Vape placement behind the counter instead of on store shelves
How Is the Government Responding, and What Legislative Actions Are Being Taken?
Aiming to strike a compromise between limiting access for youngsters and letting adults use vapes as a smoking cessation tool, the Conservative administration presented the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in February. The NHS notes that although vaping is less dangerous than smoking, its long-term effects are yet unknown because of its very recent introduction—the measure aimed to ban refillable vapes from being offered in child-friendly flavours and provide more straightforward packaging.
The bill is anticipated to be reintroduced with more policies, including a slow rise in the legal age for tobacco purchase following the takeover of the Labour Party. An official from the Department of Health and Social Care said, “Vape marketing to children and young people is wrong. Adult smokers can find great success in vaping, but we have long been clear that youngsters and adult non-smokers should never vape. By controlling flavours, packaging, and display location in stores, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill would prevent vapes from purposefully being marketed and promoted to appeal to youngsters.”
What Is the Industry Perspective, and What Could Be the Potential Consequences?
More robust policies to reduce teenage vaping and the selling of illegal goods are something the UK Vaping Industry Association agrees is necessary. Ban policies, however, have sparked questions over whether they will “supercharge the black market” and compromise national smoke-free targets. Such policies might discourage adult smokers from turning to vapes, drive existing vapers into underground vendors, or even back to cigarettes, the group notes.
The argument rounds on how best to encourage adult smokers in their attempts to stop while nevertheless safeguarding young people against the dangers of vaping.
