Rishi Sunak’s plans for a ban on single-use vapes, along with restrictions on fruit-flavored varieties and marketing, should bring benefits to both public health and the environment. With Labor MPs generally more supportive than its own, the necessary legislation is expected to pass easily. Combined with last year’s announcement of restrictions on cigarette sales, the new policy is a significant step forward for a government that has refused to restrict other forms of harmful consumption, especially sugar, which causes obesity.
With a general election looming, it seems likely that Mr Sunak, who is a fitness enthusiast and fasts every Monday, keeping an eye on his legacy. He wants to be remembered as a leader who made the country healthier and took the problem of plastic waste seriously. Previous measures in both areas have been adopted cross-party and rarely withdrawn. Mr Sunak has identified a reform that could win him credit among two groups – environmentalists and public health campaigners – who have often been among his fierce critics.
The approach to vaping by UK policymakers since its inception has been markedly different to that in other countries. San Francisco became the first US city to ban e-cigarettes after a wave of concern over their heavy use by teenagers. In Britain, on the other hand, public health experts promoted the use of nicotine vape pens as a healthier alternative to smoking. But as the habit has taken hold not only among former smokers, but also among people who have never smoked, public and professional awareness of the harms has grown.
These include the creation of a new source of plastic waste – which is particularly unwelcome given efforts to reduce this through the introduction of bag charges and other measures – and unknown long-term health risks. But probably most important to politicians and the public is the fact that children as young as 11 are becoming addicted to cheap nicotine products made attractive to them by the addition of sweet flavorings – in a pattern similar to what happened with alcopops 20 years ago.
Data from last year showed that the number of young women aged 16 to 24 vaping daily had more than tripled in 12 months, and reports of 40 children hospitalized for vaping-related illnesses made it clear that the signals from health experts and the rules for manufacturers and retailers had to change.
With the announcement that disposable vapes will be banned, that shift is now happening. There is no doubt that vapes are less harmful than cigarettes, but new rules around presentation should ensure they are no longer portrayed as harmless. At the same time, a proposed ban on the sale of tobacco to anyone born in 2009 or later – which would be achieved by gradually raising the smoking age – would give Britain one of the strictest smoking laws in the world.
Opinions differ as to whether it makes sense to regulate tobacco so strictly. While there are undoubted public health reasons for doing this, the contrast with ministers’ approach to sugar and alcohol is stark. Both public and parliamentary debate on this issue should be encouraged – while efforts to prevent children and young people from vaping should receive the widest possible support.