Children’s doctors call for an outright ban on disposable vapes

The college has long campaigned for the government to take action on children smoking and in recent years on their growing use of e-cigarettes. Alarming data from NHS Digital shows the number of young people vaping has once again increased, with one in five 15-year-olds using e-cigarettes in 2021, Action on Smoking (ASH) data also shows that experimental use of e-cigarettes among 11–17-year-olds is up a staggering 50 per cent on last year.

E-cigarettes are not a risk-free product and can be just as addictive, if not more so than traditional cigarettes. Experts agree that longer-term data on the effects of using e-cigarettes, particularly in regard to cardiovascular disease, is needed. However, since e-cigarettes have only been on sale in the UK since 2007, long-term studies don’t yet exist, and there is even less evidence of the long-term impacts of these products on young lungs, hearts, and brains.