Vape manufacturers should be required to pay a “polluter” tax, public health officials urged today.
The levy would not be passed on directly to the British. Instead, it would come out of the pockets of companies that make e-cigarettes.
The same policy should also be applied to cigarettes and alcohol, experts argued.
The industries are already subject to huge taxes to compensate for the damage they cause and discourage people from buying them.
A new levy could help fund enforcement efforts to crack down on the sale of illegal products or rogue sellers seeking to supply them to children.
The move would mean a heavy crackdown on industries making “eye-popping profits” from products that have “no benefits,” public health officials told the Local Government’s Association’s public health conference today.
NHS Digital, which last year surveyed nearly 10,000 students aged 11 to 15 about their smoking, drug and drinking habits, found that nine per cent are currently vaping – the highest recorded rate since the survey began in 2014
And specifically a polluter levy could also encourage the industry to establish recycling programs for products such as single-use vaping.
The move was discussed today at the Local Government’s Association (LGA) public health conference.
Kate Pike, tobacco control chief at Trading Standards North West, was asked if she would “see a polluter pay” for the “tobacco, vape and alcohol industries.”
She replied, “Absolutely. When you consider how cheap enforcement is.’
Ms Pike said: ‘The government has the ambition to be smoke free by 2030.
“And the regulatory impact of what we can do to help that ambition would make it so much easier and so much better.”
For example, revenue derived from such a levy could consist of funding cessation programs run at the taxpayer’s expense, similar to programs the NHS runs for smoking.
Meanwhile, Rachel Flowers, director of public health at Croydon London Borough Council, said the idea has been floated since the 1980s.
About 6 million people smoke in the UK and it is responsible for 64,000 deaths each year.
Rates have fallen over the past decade, but experts say it’s still not close enough to reach the smoke-free goal.
However, vaping rates have exploded in the same time.
While widely considered safer than smoking, its long-term effects remain a mystery.
Doctors fear there will be a wave of lung disease, dental problems and even cancer in the coming decades in people who started the habit at a young age.
The alcohol percentages have remained stable over time. But the Office for National Statistics recorded 9,641 deaths in the UK in 2021, the highest number ever recorded.
And alcohol-related harm is estimated to cost the NHS £3.5 billion a year.
A No. 10-commissioned review on smoking, published last June, also recommended the maintenance of a “polluter pays” system.
It would be the ‘dying’ tobacco industry to pay an additional £70 million in tax each year it was suggested.
This would help fund the £125 million needed to support smoking cessation and e-cigarettes on the NHS, the report said.
One in 10 high school students now uses vaping, despite uncertainty about their long-term health effects
Enforcement of laws regarding the sale of vaping, tobacco and alcohol products by minors, the sale of illegal products and point-of-sale advertising is the responsibility of Trading Standards. According to the Association of Chief Trading Standards Officers, sales of alcohol and tobacco to under-18s will be down 11 percent and 23 percent respectively in 2022 from the previous year
Other bold proposals included having doctors prescribe e-cigarettes and vaping to smokers to help them quit.
When published, think tank the Adam Smith Institute labeled the report as “nanny-statism on steroids” and “illiberal nonsense.”
Still, Sir Chris Whitty, England’s Chief Medical Officer, welcomed the “bold report” and said the industry has hooked millions of Britons “at a very young age”.
It is illegal under UK law to sell e-cigarettes and vaping products containing nicotine or tobacco to anyone under the age of 18.
The Association of Chief Trading Standards Officers said alcohol and tobacco sales to under-18s will fall by 11 percent and 23 percent respectively in 2022 compared to last year.
But at the same time, sales of e-cigarettes to under-18s increased by 450 percent, Ms Pike said.
Inappropriate advertising and promotion of vaping on social media is a major concern in addressing “how to make vaping less attractive and less accessible to those under 18, while making it more attractive and accessible to smokers who want to quit,” she added up to it.
“More needs to be done, especially with TikTok to prevent vaping from looking appealing to under-18s.”
But involving young people in the environmental problem of disposable products could be one way to tackle the problem.
In February, major retailers withdrew sales of best-selling Elf Bar vapes after a Mail investigation found the company was violating nicotine limits law.
Tesco, Sainsbury’s and WH Smith recalled all Elf Bar products and Morrisons and Asda removed the top ranked Elf Bar 600 range from their shelves.
It came after independent lab tests commissioned by the Mail found the 600 line of e-cigarettes to be at least 50 percent above the legal limit for nicotine e-liquid.