Today vaping products can be flavored to taste just like anything. We have many interesting flavors such as strawberry, popcorn, and bubblegum among many others that users love. The problem is that some of these exotic flavors are more attractive to people that these products are not meant for such as children. Reports indicate that one in ten kids in the UK has experimented with vapes in the last year. Survey points to the flavors as the main attractive force for younger e-cigarette users.
E-cigarettes are the most important tool many people use when trying to quit smoking. About one in every four former smokers in the UK credits their success in quitting the habit to the use of vaping products. However, today many manufacturers have focused on introducing many different flavors to make their products more attractive and increase their market share. The problem with this is that the many different exotic flavors have made these products more attractive to younger generations including teens and kids who have never smoked before. This has thus spread the use of these products outside the original market which is for people on their path to ditching smoking.
A report on the use of e-cigarettes among young Britons published in 2021 reveals that among all the 11-18 years old’s in the UK at least one in every ten has used vaping products. But most worrying is the fact that half of this number has turned into regular users. This is more so considering that many other studies link vaping to serious health problems.
Already the UK has banned the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. This is great news for the rest of the people in Europe. Taking a cue, in July 2022 the European Union announced a proposal to ban the sale of many flavored e-cigarettes. The proposal wants to ban flavors that are loved by many young people such as strawberry and bubblegum. This is to make it hard for this group to be enticed into vaping and thus get addicted.
Although several current studies link vaping to serious health problems many still believe that these products are crucial in ending smoking. The NHS says that vaping products offer the best option to wean smokers off traditional cigarettes. Therefore, their advantages out ways their disadvantages. This means that while there is no plan to ban vaping products across Europe, it is important to limit the use of these products only to individuals who want them as part of their quitting smoking journey.
