‘I am concerned that we are sleepwalking into a public health catastrophe’
The government are reportedly set to ban single-use vapes after a series of calls from numerous different groups to make the disposable devices illegal on both health and environmental grounds.
The move could come as soon as next week after the government came to the conclusion that the products are aimed at children who then become addicted.
According to the Telegraph, it is due to be revealed in a consultation issued by the Department of Health and Social Care next week, however timings could change.
Just last week news emerged that five million disposable vapes are thrown away in the UK every week which is a fourfold increase on 2022.
Child respiratory doctors have also criticised the government in the past year for failing to listen to warnings about the dangers of allowing e-cigarettes to be marketed towards children, reports the Guardian.
Doctors pointed towards the friendly packaging of disposable vapes containing the names of sweets such as jelly babies and banana milkshake – while also containing 2% nicotine.
Professor Andrew Bush, a consultant paediatric chest physician at Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals, said: “I am concerned that we are sleepwalking into a public health catastrophe with a generation of children hooked on nicotine.”
The government is understood to have stopped a ban on all vaping products because it sees vaping as a good alternative for those who smoke.
Professor Sir Chris Witty, England’s chief medical officer, said in the past: “If you smoke, vaping is much safer; if you don’t smoke, don’t vape, and marketing to children is truly unacceptable.”
Related links:
- Major UK supermarket chain stops selling disposable vapes due to concerns over ‘health of young people’
- People vow never to buy disposable vapes again after seeing how they’re created
- Video of baby vaping provokes outrage on social media
