Shops that sell vapes should be licensed just like alcohol shops to curb the epidemic of nicotine addiction in children, MPs will demand this week.
It comes as research shows more than three-quarters of the public support tightening the law so the devices can’t be sold in toy stores, candy stores and other places aimed at young people.
Even the tobacco industry, which makes much of its profits from vaping, supports stricter regulations to redefine them as legitimate smoking cessation aids, rather than as a public nuisance.
The Tobacco and Vape Bill will be debated in the House of Commons tomorrow, when a group of MPs will call for tougher restrictions on the brightly colored candy-flavoured nicotine gadgets.
They are sold in many sweet shops and, in one particular example, in a shop in Lincolnshire called Grimsby Toys & Vape, where they are sold together with teddy bears.
The Tobacco and Vape Bill will be debated in the House of Commons tomorrow, when a group of MPs will call for tougher restrictions on the brightly colored candy-flavoured nicotine gadgets. (Stock Image)
Tory MP Caroline Johnson, a pediatric consultant, said: ‘People are very concerned about the number of children becoming addicted to vaping. Currently this is much larger than the number who would have started smoking.
‘The market for the sale of vapes and other nicotine products must be tightened. If people needed a license to sell vapes, it would make it easier to enforce the law because they could immediately lose their license if they sold it to children.”
She said alcohol and tobacco licenses should be ‘linked’ so if a store lost its license to sell one type of product to children, it would also lose its license to sell both – which could be catastrophic for a small company.
“I would also like to see a restriction on vaping in public places, in line with smoking,” she added.
“People may say it’s a ‘nanny state,’ but most people don’t want to live in a cotton candy and blueberry-scented fog.”
A national poll shows that think tank Britain in Focus believes most people are concerned about the number of young people inhaling vapes, and is shocked that shops do not need a license to sell them.
Seven in ten believe the government has not done enough to tackle underage vaping, and 79 percent believe the new smoking laws should introduce licensing for the sale of vapes.
The Tobacco and Vaping Act aims to ban anyone born after 2009 from buying cigarettes and prevent candy-flavored vapes from being marketed to children.
Health Minister Victoria Atkins rejected accusations that it was an example of ‘nanny state’ legislation. She said: ‘This is about the Conservative principle of looking after future generations.
‘We want to free future generations from addiction to nicotine. No one is happy that they started smoking; everyone regrets it.’
According to the Ministry of Health, the number of children using vaping has tripled in the past three years.