The government are planning to ban vaping on hospital grounds, playgrounds and near schools in an attempt to stop children from using e-cigarettes.
The Health Secretary Wes Streeting is considering the ban of vaping outside in England which is supported by the UK’s chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty.
The proposed ban of tobacco and vapes bill will be put before MPs in Parliament within weeks, The Times has reported.
Prof Nick Hopkinson, a respiratory physician and chair of Action on Smoking and Health, said, “Vaping has helped millions of adults quit smoking and is much less harmful than smoking. However, it is not risk-free and high levels of use among young people and growing use among never-smokers is a concern.”
Liam Humberstone, Technical Director at Totally Wicked said, “It is disappointing to hear, yet again, of governments and authorities failing to understand the distinction between vaping and smoking in terms of health risk. Vaping is very much safer than smoking, and this proposal to minimise the option of using e-cigarettes in outdoor areas of England may well bring more bad than good.
“Second-hand smoking is universally recognised as a significant health risk. Second-hand vaping is widely recognised among credible experts as being of minimal harm, with some experts saying harm levels are too low even to quantify.
“Treating vaping and smoking in the same way with this kind of legislation being discussed sends a dangerous message to consumers. The ASH report on adult vaping from August 2024 showed the proportion of vapers that also smoked rose from 31% to 39% between 2021 and 2024. The appalling fact is that fewer people understand vaping is much safer than smoking than ever before.
“Certain misleading narratives are creating significant headwinds for smokers who are considering switching to vaping as a less harmful alternative to cigarettes. Worse still, they are driving many former smokers back to tobacco, undoing the progress made in harm reduction over the last decade.
“The most troubling aspect of this situation is that public understanding of vaping’s relative safety has significantly declined. According to the latest reports, only 7.7% of the general populace can accurately recognise that vaping is far less harmful than smoking. Even more alarming is the fact that 50% of both smokers and the general population now incorrectly believe that vaping is either as harmful as, or even more harmful than smoking. This is a dramatic increase from 10 years ago, when just 15% of all adults and 10% of smokers held such incorrect views.
“Another clear issue with the proposed outdoor vaping ban is the almost impossible task of enforcing such a strict rule in locations where it’s been difficult enough to reduce traditional smoking bans.
“The fact of the matter is that those who switch from smoking to vaping are making significant steps to improve their health, and by punishing or giving those who rely on e-cigarettes to curb their tobacco cravings, there is a very real danger that the number of smokers will rise in the UK.”
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