Government Receives Big Response
The government says it has received over 12,000 responses so far on its proposals to tackle youth vaping that includes possibly banning disposable vapes and eliminating popular juice flavours
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by Dave Cross
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Proposals being consulted on include:
- making it an offence for anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 to be sold tobacco products
- restricting the flavours and descriptions of vapes
- regulating point-of-sale displays in retail outlets so that vapes are kept out of sight
- considering restricting the sale of disposable vapes
- regulating vape packaging and product presentation
- considering restricting the sale of disposable vapes
- exploring further restrictions for non-nicotine vapes and other nicotine consumer products such as nicotine pouches
- exploring whether increasing the price of vapes will reduce the number of young people using them
- introducing new powers for local authorities to issue on-the-spot fines (fixed penalty notices) to enforce age-of-sale legislation of tobacco products and vapes
Over 12,000 responses have been received as part of the government’s consultation on plans to create a smokefree generation and crack down on youth vaping.
The Prime Minister recently spoke about “the government’s concerns about the worrying rise in vaping among children.”
The government claims it has allocated £70 million for local stop smoking services and support in every local authority in England.
Stop smoking services and support provide one-to-one and group stop smoking sessions, access to accurate information and advice, as well as easy and affordable access to quit aids like skin patches, inhalators, nasal and mouth spray, chewing gum and lozenges.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “I want to build a brighter future for our children, which means taking the necessary decisions for the long-term interests of our country.
“Smoking is a deadly habit, so we are making the biggest single public health intervention in a generation to stop our kids from ever being able to buy a cigarette. This will protect their health both now and in future - saving tens of thousands of lives and saving the NHS billions of pounds.”
The government is soon to roll out the Swap to Stop scheme, the first of its kind in the world which will see a million smokers across England offered a free vaping starter kit.
Professor Sir Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England, said: “Smoking is highly addictive and causes multiple diseases including heart disease, cancers, dementia and stroke.
“The response to the consultation shows people care strongly about this issue. If passed, the bill will help ensure the next generation is smoke free and the additional funding will help current smokers stop, preventing major future harm.”
The live public consultation will close on Wednesday 6 December.
The Health and Social Care Secretary, Steve Barclay, last week visited Salford City Council to meet local councillors, public health leaders and Trading Standards officers where he discussed work being carried out in the region to seize illicit vapes. He was also shown 2 shipping containers full of seized products.
Illicit vapes can contain unknown ingredients and higher levels of nicotine and are often made easily available to children. Over 2 million illicit vapes were seized across England by Trading Standards from 2022 to 2023.
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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