Lords Debate Children Vaping
Liberal Democrat Lord Storey led a debate by asking the Government what plans they have to address the number of children using vaping products
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by Dave Cross
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Liberal Democrat Lord Storey led a debate by asking the Government what plans they have to address the number of children using vaping products. What follows is a compilation of feelings and misinformation, so it is important to remember that the number of non-smoking teens vaping in Great Britain has fallen – not risen – according to the latest figures from Action on Smoking and Health.
Lord Storey began by reminding the House that the previous Conservative government said: “[Vapes] have become highly appealing products for children because of the wide range of flavours, bright colours, use of cartoons and highly visible points of display in shops.”
The Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA) welcomed the previous government’s plans to phase out tobacco use but argued that “smokers need proven pathways off their addiction” and that “over-regulating popular adult vape products could deny adult smokers a proven smoking cessation tool”.
It added: “As an industry, we recognise that youth vaping needs to be tackled and we stand-ready to work with government and towards this and we welcome wider consultation on the industry. Existing legislation should be properly enforced, and responsible manufacturers and retailers properly supported, rather than reaching for the blunt instrument of policy measures that could have damaging consequences”.
Despite knowing and acknowledging the Independent British Vape Trade Association’s position, Lord Storey went on to put across the World Health Organization’s unscientific position on vaping.
It remains a fact that it is illegal to sell vapes to anyone under the age of 18 or for adults to buy them on behalf of under-18s. The law is not being enforced strongly enough.
The Lord continued by talking about vapes not being “completely risk-free”, worrying about “the long-term risks of vaping”, and saying “the developing lungs and brains of children and young people make them more sensitive to the effects of vaping” despite there being precious little evidence to support this statement.
He said that illegal vapes are being sold to children and “it isn’t possible to know what’s actually in them” – so where is the sense in growing the black market for these products?
Misrepresenting the data, Lord Storey said “the rates of vaping among children (11-17) appeared to have stabilised,” adding, “it is not yet clearly declining”. This is not what the latest figures from Action on Smoking and Health says.
The full debate can be read on Hansard.
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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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