Vapes Out Of Sight & Mind
The Local Government Association demands that the Government acts to put vapes out of sight and out of mind to tackle underage sales
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by Dave Cross
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The LGA says that strict new measures to regulate the display and marketing of vaping products are called for “to crack down on a rise in stores selling to children”.
It says this is a “widespread issue” that has forced local authorities “to step up enforcement activity”.
It wants vape products to be legislated in a similar way to tobacco products – meaning that it wants to see a ban on “colourful packaging” and “fruity and bubble gum flavours”, which it says are only used to appeal to children.
To help stop children from being able to access vapes, the LGA, which represents councils, is calling for:
- Vapes to be in plain packaging and kept out-of-sight behind the counter
- Mandatory age-of-sale signage on vaping products – it is currently voluntary
- A ban on free samples of vaping products being given out to people of any age
Sanctions for breaching these rules should also be the same as penalties handed out under tobacco display regulations.
Councillor David Fothergill, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Vapes need to be out-of-sight and out-of-reach of children in the same way as cigarettes. It is not right that stores are able to prominently display vaping paraphernalia for all to see, such as in a shop window, often in bright, colourful packaging that can appeal to children.
“Vapes should only be used as an aid to quit smoking. While research has shown vaping poses a small fraction of the risks of smoking, it is deeply worrying that more and more children – who have never smoked – are starting vaping.
“This has become a major concern for councils, who are seeing a sharp rise in cases of shops and other outlets selling vaping products to people under 18. The evidence suggests that vaping is by no means risk-free, and so it is very alarming that young people are getting access to and using e-cigarettes.
“This is why we are calling for tougher and stricter regulation of vaping products to tackle the growing cases of children getting hold of them.”
Data from the ASH Smokefree GB Youth survey of 11 to 18-year-olds in England showed that current vaping prevalence was 8.6 per cent in 2022, compared with 4 per cent in 2021.
It also found that over a fifth of youngsters bought vaping products from newsagents while 16.3 per cent bought them from a supermarket.
Action on Smoking and Health’s Deborah Arnott, commented: “Children who vape mainly use cheap disposables, which can be bought for under a fiver. Making them less affordable by adding a specific tax for single-use disposable vapes in the March budget would be a simple first step, reducing child vaping and the vast quantities of single-use vapes being thrown into landfill.”
Nobody explained how a retailer currently supplying disposables illegally to children is going to be prevented from continuing to do so by being made to store their products out of sight. It could be argued that making products vanish from shelves would make adult smokers less likely to switch.
Photo Credit:
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
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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