Members of Parliament urged the government to implement restrictions on the packaging of disposable vapes in a bid to reduce use among children.
This week, the Health and Social Care Committee pushed for limits on the packaging and marketing of e-cigarettes, similar to tobacco products.
The committee is calling for the government to:
- Consider bringing restrictions on packaging and marketing of vapes in line with those that apply to tobacco products
- Review resources and enforcement powers of trading standards to prevent vapes being sold to children
- Assess the impact on use among children and smokers on lower incomes of a proposed excise tax on disposable vapes. This would also help to protect against imports of illegal products. The committee heard these can contain chemicals including hydraulic oil and antifreeze.
The latest survey for Action on Smoking and Health found that one in five children had tried vaping. This is up from 15.8% in 2022 and 13.9% before the first COVID-19 lockdown.
Health and Social Care Committee chair Steve Brine MP said: ‘Decisive action is needed now from both government and industry to tackle an alarming trend in the number of children vaping and to protect them from its harmful effects.
‘It’s clear to us that the vaping industry has not gone far enough to ensure that its products don’t appeal to children. When you have brightly coloured and branded vapes with flavours that name unicorns, sweets and popular fizzy drinks displayed in locations ranging from newsagents to chicken shops, it’s disingenuous for the industry to claim otherwise.’
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Ban on free samples
In May, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to clamp down on the ‘unacceptable’ promotions of e-cigarettes as concerns build over increasing levels of vaping among young people.
A loophole that allows retailers to give free vape samples to children in England will close under the new plans.
This comes as recent NHS figures for 2021 showed that 9% of 11 to 15 year old children used e-cigarettes. This figure is up from 6% in 2018.
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