The United Kingdom will ban disposable vapes and restrict marketing out of concern about children’s health.
The government has argued that the colorfully packaged disposable vapes attract minors, amid an increase in underage users.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the nationwide ban on Jan. 29 and stressed his desire to stop all minors from using the products, which contain nicotine.
“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 during an event at a school, per the BBC. He can enact the ban as part of the already established Environmental Protection Act.
“As any parent or teacher knows, one of the most worrying trends at the moment is the rise in vaping among children, and so we must act before it becomes endemic,” he continued. “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.”
Sunak said he has an “obligation” to do what he thinks is right for the country “in the long term.”
The ban will go into effect between the end of 2024 and the start of 2025. Under the policy, the government will require the products to adopt plain packaging and regulate how stores display vapes.
According to The Independent, vaping had increased among minors with data indicating that 9% of 11- to 15-year-olds use vapes. Additionally, regular vape use increased between 11- to 17-year-olds from 4.1% in 2020 to 7.6% in 2023.
The United Kingdom is already aiming to create a “smoke-free generation” by banning the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after Jan. 1, 2009. The government had previously aimed to reduce the number of 15-year-olds who smoke from 8% to 3%, to reduce the number of smoking adults from 15.5% to 12%, and to reduce the proportion of women who smoke during pregnancy from 10.7% to 6% by the end of 2022. The “smoke-free generation” policy is predicted to completely end smoking in the youngest generation by 2040.
“By stopping young people from ever starting to smoke, the government will protect an entire generation of young people from the harms of smoking as they grow older,” the government said in a press release in October. “Smoking is the UK’s biggest preventable killer – causing around 1 in 4 cancer deaths and leading to 64,000 deaths per year in England. It puts huge pressure on the [National Health Service], with almost one hospital admission every minute attributable to smoking and up to 75,000 GP appointments each month taken up by smoking-related illness.”
It is already illegal to sell vapes to anyone under the age of 18 in the United Kingdom.
