Banning single use vapes isn’t enough
The UK government have recently voted to ban the sale of single use vapes, on environmental and health grounds.
We’re glad to see action is being taken – you barely can walk out of the door in the UK without seeing multiple disposables vapes in hands and littered on pavements.
But is this proposed measure enough?
We don’t think so.
Emerging evidence and statistics are building to paint a picture of:
A: how detrimental to health vapes are,
B: how many previously non-smokers are now vaping. Many of whom are young people who might never have taken up smoking cigarettes.
Why vaping is no good
Few argue that vaping is worse for you than smoking tobacco in cigarettes or pipes.
But unique risks are emerging – from ‘popcorn lung’2 to dentists reporting that vaping is causing a rise in gum disease among young people.3 And as vaping is such a recent technology compared with smoking, we don’t doubt there are more dangers yet to be seen.
NIH-funded studies published in 2022 show that “chronic e-cigarettes users had impaired blood vessel function, which may put them at increased risk for heart disease.”4
As such, chronic vapers may have a similar vascular disease risk to chronic smokers.
Focusing on the environmental damage that disposable vapes do? Well, that could form a whole new blog piece.
But suffice it to say that research by not-for-profit Materials Focus uncovered that 8 vapes are thrown away every second in the UK, containing enough lithium to make 5,000 car batteries every year.5
The vaping boom
It’s undeniable that the proliferation of disposable vapes has been a key part of vaping’s popularity in the UK.
In the past year alone, there has been huge growth, as demonstrated by research by the charity ASH (Action or Smoking and Health).
There has been a 50% growth in experimentation (trying once or twice) between 2022 and 2023 – growing from 7.7% to 11.6%.6
This numbers includes many children and young people:
- 15% of 11–15-year-olds 15% have tried vaping,
- 34% of 16-17-year-olds,
- 38% of 18-years-olds.6
Sadly, this is unsurprising when considering that children are seeing vapes promoted everywhere. Over half of all children are aware of vape promotion in shops, and 32% of children are aware of online promotion.6
With flavours like Gummy Bear, Glazed Doughnut and Cotton Candy, it’s clear – like the alco-pops of yesteryear – that these products aren’t formulated for a mature palette.
Despite this, the vast majority of disposable corner-shop favourites contain 2% nicotine – this is the highest percentage legally allowed!1
So even if young people wanted to vape without the nicotine, it’s much harder to find, outside of specialist vape shops.
Anecdotal though it is, my younger sister buys multiple disposable vapes a week, though she’ll quite happily admit she’s never tried a cigarette and never would.
Why banning single-use vapes isn’t enough.
Whether disposable or not, vapes and their flavours are still clearly designed to appeal to children and young people.
Call me cynical, but I can’t imagine that vape manufacturers will be willing to sacrifice their biggest cash cow so easily.
The next step will likely be a race to create the cheapest, ‘technically-reusable’ vape that young people can just as easily buy.
By this I mean, they’ll design a product that could be re-filled, but is fiddly or cheap enough that users won’t mind throwing it away and getting a new one when it runs out.
Or even more scary to think about, children may look for knock-off products that could contain dodgy additives or unsafe levels of heavy metals.
Counterfeit vapes are already a huge problem,7 so unless the government plan on cracking down on these too, there could be more danger ahead.
So, what can be done?
The European Union, in 2020, banned menthol flavoured cigarettes. They knew the minty flavour made smoking more palatable and attractive to people who otherwise did not enjoy smoking.
Since the menthol ban, there was an increase in quitting attempts among menthol smokers, compared with non-menthol smokers. So, it was a successful ban in terms of helping people want to quit.8
In my opinion, vape companies need to be forced to follow suit. We need to ban these outrageously sweet flavours and child-friendly designs.
Come on, No. 10. It’s time to step and make some real change.
Do you think more needs to be done to this rise in vaping? Let us know, we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Sources
- https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/sep/11/ban-on-single-use-vapes-in-uk-could-be-imminent#:~:text=Vaping-,Ministers%20set%20to%20ban%20single%2Duse%20vapes,UK%20over%20child%20addiction%20fears&text=Ministers%20are%20reportedly%20poised%20to,on%20health%20and%20environmental%20grounds.
- https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22590-popcorn-lung-bronchiolitis-obliterans
- https://www.dental-nursing.co.uk/news/evidence-grows-for-vapings-role-in-gum-disease.
- https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-funded-studies-show-damaging-effects-vaping-smoking-blood-vessels
- https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/sep/08/call-for-uk-ban-on-single-use-vapes-as-more-than-5m-discarded-each-week
- https://ash.org.uk/resources/view/use-of-e-cigarettes-among-young-people-in-great-britain#:~:text=Since%202021%20the%20proportion%20of,who%20have%20ever%20tried%20vaping.
- https://vapeuk.co.uk/blog/fake-counterfeit-vapes-health-risks-how-to-identify
- https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2022/09/13/tc-2022-057428#.