We currently have a government who wants England to be smoke-free by 2030 but the voices calling for banning flavours continues.
It’s all done under the guise of underage vaping but 99% of illegal vapes sold to youths are from corner shops and convenience stores.
Waitrose the supermarket in a backwards step have banned all vaping products yet continue to sell cigarettes, what an upside down world we live in. Is this an admission they sold e-cigarettes to minors or would they rather keep selling cancer sticks.
A loophole in the law has changed which I didn’t know existed but minors were allowed in vape shops to try different flavours, something I never knew about.
As for the rogue traders online I hope the get dealt with appropriately. I’ve noticed a lot of websites now have a filter screen which asks are you over 18 and if you click no it doesn’t let you in but if you go back and click yes it lets you in.
At Squire Vape Co we have a real age check at the checkout procedure and also minors are less likely to buy in bulk.
Rise in youth vaping slows – new vaping research from ASH
There are a number of conclusions to draw from ASH’s latest numbers (ASH Smoke-free GB adults and youth survey results 2023), but one undeniable fact is that the rate of growth for under-18’s who regularly vape has slowed significantly. While the Government goal must be a reduction in the numbers, the big jump in youth vaping in 2021 has not continued at anything like the same pace (occasional or regular vaping had gone up from 3.2% to 6.9%, but last year went from 6.9% to 7.6%). Last year’s numbers were referred to as a new vaping epidemic and the rapid growth was rightly a cause for concern, but the lack of a significant rise this time round is better news entirely.
Quoting from the UK Vaping Industry Authority
What we really want to see from these numbers is a rapid fall in the rate of youth vaping as the Government ramps up efforts to effectively police the sale of vapes to teenagers. The research also shows that the most popular place for 11-17 year olds to buy vapes is from corner shops and newsagents, so stopping these rogue retailers from breaking the law must be a priority. Interestingly, a very low proportion is buying vapes online, presumably because it is much easier to police the use of effective age verification tools. As we’ve said time and again, let’s police the sale of vapes effectively, fine rogue retailers £10,000 on the spot and empower Trading Standards to remove their ability to sell vapes again.
This comes as welcome news for us traders who stick to the laws. I’ve witnessed in my small town three stores selling disposables to minors and some illegal vapes up to 9000 Puffs containing god knows what banned chemicals.
Labour Wants to Ban Cigarettes to Reach Smoke-free Target
If the Labour party are voted into government in the next election, this could result in the total ban of cigarettes for sale.
The ground-breaking move would help the UK reach its goal of being smoke-free by 2030. According to shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, the current government needs to do more to achieve this target as it does not look on track to succeed.
Although former health secretary Sajid Javid noted 15 different measures that could reduce the sales of cigarettes over time, little has been done to put these in action.
Among the ideas were raising the legal age of being able to buy cigarettes from 18 by one year every 12 months until 2030 when they would be banned entirely. Another measure was to actively promote vaping as an effective method to stop smoking by swapping cigarettes for vapes. This would help smokers to reduce the number of cigarettes they use and eventually quit.
My worry is prohibition of any product leads to a black market. I can also point to stores selling illegal tobacco under the counter.
By the time I’ve written this blog 26 lives will be lost to tobacco products in the UK. 26 families destroyed in 2 hours. I would like to see vaping promoted more as a way out of smoking but advertising is going to be banned.
With all the mixed messages regarding vaping / e-cigarettes doctors should be promoting vaping as a safer nicotine product just like other nicotine based products.
Finally a survey found 1.5 million ex-smokers in the UK would alarmingly return to smoking should flavours be prohibited.
Smoking costs society £17bn – £5bn more than previously estimated
New economic analysis of national data for ASH finds the cost of smoking to society is significantly higher than previous estimates have shown. Commissioned by charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) the new figures published [Thursday 13th January] show the cost of smoking to society totals £17.04bn for England each year. This compares to £12.5bn under the previous estimate.
The higher estimate is a result of a new assessment of the impact of smoking on productivity. Smokers are more likely than non-smokers to become ill while of working age increasing the likelihood of being out of work and reducing the average wages of smokers. Smokers are also more likely to die while they are still of working age creating a further loss to the economy. Together this adds up to £13.2bn.
Smokers’ need for health and social care at a younger age than non-smokers also creates costs, with smoking costing the NHS an additional £2.4bn and a further £1.2bn in social care costs. This includes the cost of care provided in the home and, for the first time, residential care costs. However, many of smokers’ care needs are met informally by friends and family. It’s estimated that to provide paid-for care to meet needs would cost society a further £14bn, this is not included in the overall £17bn figure but illustrates the wider burden of smoking beyond pounds and pence.
Smokers also lose a large part of their income to tobacco an estimated £12bn in England each year, or approximately £2,000 per smoker. While the tobacco industry argue that what smokers pay in tax compensates for the cost to society, the excise tax paid for 2020/21 totalled just under £10bn in England, higher than in previous years but still nowhere near the £17.04bn it cost society in 2019.
I’ve just seen another negative news report saying they could end up worse than smoking, the same people who told us to “Trust the science.”
Vaping substantially less harmful than smoking, largest review of its kind finds
New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London has found that the use of vaping products rather than smoking leads to a substantial reduction in exposure to toxicants that promote cancer, lung disease and cardiovascular disease.
The independent report, commissioned by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities in the Department of Health and Social Care, represents the most comprehensive review of the risks of vaping to date. It found that, while vaping is not risk free (particularly for people who have never smoked), it poses a small fraction of the health risks of smoking in the short to medium term.
The report reviewed many aspects of vaping, including who is vaping and what products, the effects on health (both absolute and compared with smoking) and public perceptions of harm. The authors examined studies of biomarkers of exposure (measures of potentially harmful substance levels in the body) as well as biomarkers of potential harm (measures of biological changes in the body) due to vaping or smoking.
The strongest evidence, and where there was a greater volume of research, came from biomarkers of exposure. An exploration of the available studies found that levels of tobacco specific nitrosamines, volatile organic compounds and other toxicants implicated in the main diseases caused by smoking were found at significantly lower levels in vapers. Among vapers, overall levels of nicotine were lower or similar to smokers.
Illegal vapes are biggest threat on High Street, say Trading Standards
Shops selling illegal vapes and the sale of vaping products to children are the top threats on the UK’s High Streets, according to Trading Standards officials.
Hundreds of thousands of vapes which flout current laws have been seized.
And there is concern that cheap, brightly-coloured vapes are ending up in the hands of 12 and 13-year-olds.
