The Trading Standards has warned that too many unsafe disposable vaping products are flooding the UK market. The trading standards team further warns that many of these products are targeting kids.
However, in a quick rejoint, Mark Oates, the We Vape’s director warns that the government needs to trade carefully as it risks throwing out the baby with the bathwater. He says that the regulated vaping products have had a huge net positive on society and these should not be lost just because illegal vaping products are getting on the market.
However, the problem cannot easily be ignored. At one time more than 8,000 illegal vaping products were seized from a single East Midlands’ premise. This shows the extent of the problem.
Oates condemned the high number of illegal vaping products in the UK but says scientific data such as the one provided by the Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) action group shows that the number of youths who use vaping products is still negligible. He points at the 0.5% of the 11–17-year-olds in the country who have used vaping products. He further points out that vaping is safer than smoking to the British Medical Association, Research UK and the NHS.
“Vaping with approved licensed devices is helping 70,000 people a year in the UK quit cigarettes, with smoking still the biggest cause of preventable death in the world. We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that vaping is a huge net positive as it is vastly safer than smoking,” he added.
Speaking about the illegal vaping products, the Leicestershire Country Council’s senior trading standards officer Helen Donegan agrees that it’s not easy to know what is in these illegal products.
“They are making them extremely attractive to young people – but they could be inhaling a banned substance,” she added.
The Trading Standards agency says that sweet flavored and colorful devices are the most popular ones among teens. Unfortunately, several shops illegally sell these illegal products to them. This has increased the number of teens getting hooked on these products in 2022.
The agency is now sending out teams on regular basis to trace and seize these counterfeit products. This has resulted in thousands of these unregulated products being seized from retailers. While this has been happening the number of teens using these products keeps growing. According to data published by ASH, about 1/3 of 17- and 16-year-olds in the country have used vaping products.
This disturbing data has gotten many in government to rethink this problem. In April, All Party Parliamentary Group for Vaping Tory vice chairman Adam Afriyie issued a warning to businesses for marketing vapes to underage kids.
“Vaping has saved thousands of lives and helped millions of smokers to quit, so it is appalling that bad actors are trying to push these products to children,” he said.
Many both in government and advocacy groups agree that vaping has been very helpful in helping addicted smokers quit. They also agree that stronger enforcement of regulations is required to cure the problem.
