The Disposable Vape Could Push 200,000 People Back To Smoking

The disposable vapes ban could push 200,000 people back to smoking when it comes into effect next month, a report warns.

The law is aimed at protecting the environment and tackling a surge in youth vaping rates, which have skyrocketed from 0.8 percent in 2013 to 7.2 percent last year.

But the Future Health Research Centre says the move risks undermining the Government’s progress towards a ‘smoke-free’ Britain if vapers are not supported to maintain their ‘quit journey’ and switch back to smoking.

An estimated 5 million single-use vapes, which are available to purchase at pocket money prices, are thrown away in the UK every week.

The research report ‘Endgame: managing the disposable vapes ban and the journey to a Smoke-free Future’ contains new polling showing 45 percent of vapers ‘always’, ‘often’ or ‘sometimes’ use a disposable device.

The highest rates of disposable vape use are among those aged 18 to 24, the survey of 4,393 British adults shows.

As a consequence of the ban, 12 percent of users say they will switch from vaping to smoking.

Some 54 percent plan to change to another vape, 15 percent plan to stop vaping completely, and 9 percent will try traditional nicotine replacement therapies, such as patches or gum.

Modelling scenarios based on the findings suggest that the disposable vape ban will result in between 175,000 and 378,000 people quitting vaping and between 630,000 and 1.36 million people changing to another vaping product.

But the smoking rate could rise by between 90,000 and 200,000, adding 0.2 percent to 0.4 percent to the overall population smoking rate.

Richard Sloggett, the report’s author and a former government advisor, said: ‘The Government has committed welcome and strong action to reduce smoking and tackle youth vaping.

‘However, these findings show that urgent work is needed to ensure that efforts to reduce youth vaping do not have the unintended consequence of increasing the numbers smoking – particularly amongst younger people.

‘The ban also feels like being a missed opportunity, with hundreds of thousands of people soon to be looking for alternatives to disposable vapes but over half saying they will simply switch to another product.

‘With the ban looming, the Government now needs to get on the front foot, commit to a national mass media anti-smoking campaign and set out more clearly how it will use its forthcoming regulatory powers through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to help ensure that those using disposable vapes do not turn to smoking instead.’

The report, commissioned by Kenvue, the maker of Nicolette, calls for the government to use new regulatory powers to limit vape branding, packaging, and displays and restrict flavour descriptions of the products.

Additionally, it urges recommitting funds to a nationwide mass media anti-smoking campaign and setting new goals to track and prioritise decreases in teenage vaping rates.

Steve Brine, a former public health minister and previous chair of the Commons Health and Social Care Committee, who has contributed a foreword to the report, said: ‘Smoking remains the single leading preventable cause of illness and mortality in the UK.

‘The disposable vapes ban and the Government’s wider action in tackling smoking present a massive step in the right direction for England in achieving the original smoke-free ambition.

‘But we are not there yet and as this research from Future Health shows, any complacency will have serious ramifications.

‘The Government needs to make sure that those using disposable vapes are aware of the ban, the alternatives to switch to following its introduction and the dangers of taking up or returning to smoking.’

Vaping has now been taken up by people who have never smoked cigarettes before, particularly youngsters who are now hooked on them, and I’m sure that in the not-too-distant future, there will be studies that link vaping to cancer. After all, you are breathing in a cocktail of chemicals, and we have no idea what they are doing to our bodies.

People complained that smoking cigarettes was filthy and that they didn’t enjoy the smell. Then they introduced vapes, which also smell bad. It’s like an epidemic!

I don’t know why they display them in shops in bright colours, they’re not sweets, they have nicotine and other harmful chemicals in them just like cigarettes, so they should be treated the same.

Vapes have nicotine in them, although some don’t have any nicotine at all, but they also have propylene Glycol (PG) and vegetable Glycerin (VG). These are base liquids acting as solvents and flavour carriers.

A wide variety of chemicals are used to create various flavours. These can include diacetyl, which has been linked to lung disease. Then there are Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). These are organic chemicals that evaporate at room temperature.

Some vapes also have trace amounts of metals like lead, nickel, and tin, which can come from the heating coil. Vapes may also contain acrolein, formaldehyde, diethylene glycol, acetaldehyde, and benzene. These are known carcinogens or have been linked to various health issues.

It’s our government, they want to change things and then change the goalposts. The problem is people are like sheep. They brought out diesel cars and we all bought diesel cars. Then they brought out electric cars because evidently, they’re healthier for the environment.

However, if you buy off Amazon, your item arrives in a box big enough to bury your spouse and hide him under the patio with enough packaging to keep him in place.

The boxes are made out of paper which makes the cardboard, how many trees did we cut down for that? Saving the planet my arse!