Vaping to be ‘banned outside schools and hospitals’ in England
Ministers are reportedly planning to ban vaping in playgrounds, hospitals and near schools in a bid to prevent children taking up the habit.
Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, is considering restricting the use of e-cigarettes outside the home in England. Chris Whitty, the country’s chief medical officer for England, is said to be in favor of the move.
Restrictions on vaping will be included in the Tobacco and Vaping Bill to be presented to Parliament in the coming weeks. Whitty is said to have advocated for pub gardens to be included in the ban, but no final decision has been made, the Times reported.
Ministers are not expected to involve the outdoor hospitality industry following backlash in August over proposals to ban smoking in pub gardens to reduce the number of avoidable deaths from tobacco use.
A study published earlier this week found that 1 million people in England now vape despite never having smoked regularly before, a sevenfold increase in just three years.
E-cigarette use among adults who had never regularly had cigarettes was stable until 2021, when one in 200 – about 133,000 people – were vapers. However, the proportion has risen sharply to one in 28 in 2024 – 1,006,000 people – according to the study published in the Lancet Public Health Journal.
Separate figures from the Office for National Statistics show that 5.1 million people aged 16 or over in Britain – around one in ten – use e-cigarettes. Vaping rates were highest among those aged 16 to 24, at 15.8% US found.
Prof Nick Hopkinson, a respiratory physician and chairman of Action on Smoking and Health, said: “Vaping has helped millions of adults quit smoking and is far less harmful than smoking. However, it is not without risks and high levels of use among young people, and increasing use among non-smokers is a concern.”
Prof. Sanjay Agrawal, special adviser to the Royal College of Physicians on tobacco, said “urgent action” was needed to tackle the rise in vaping among young people and those who had never smoked.
He said: “While e-cigarettes remain a valuable tool to help smokers quit, it is essential that their use does not pose new risks to public health, especially among children.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We do not comment on leaks. While vaping can be an effective tool to help adult smokers quit, children should never vape.
“The Tobacco and Vaping Act will bring definitive and positive change to prevent future generations from becoming addicted to nicotine and to prevent vaping and other nicotine products from being deliberately branded to target children.”