Britain is to ban disposable vapes in a plan to curb their use by children

The brightly colored packaging is a slick mix of ombré pink and lime green. The nicotine inside is coated with a “strawberry-kiwi” flavor.

Increasingly, single-use plastic vapes like these are ending up in the hands of children, with one in five young people in Britain between the ages of 11 and 17 trying to vape last year, according to Action on Smoking and Health, an independent public health charity.

They will soon be banned in Britain, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Monday, as he unveiled a package of measures to ban single-use vapes, limit flavors and regulate packaging and displays.

Britain follows several other countries, and some US states, that have already taken steps to restrict underage vaping, as the colorful and trendy packaging and fruit or candy flavors have proven attractive to teenagers and children.

Mr Sunak said the ban, which is part of legislation yet to be passed by Parliament, was aimed at halting “one of the most worrying trends of the moment” before it becomes “endemic”.

“The long-term effects of vaping are unknown and the nicotine it contains can be highly addictive. “So while vaping can be a useful tool to help smokers quit, marketing vapes to children is not acceptable,” he said in a statement.

Andrea Leadsom, Britain's health secretary, said the measures were aimed at ensuring vaping was targeted at adults who quit smoking, rather than children.

“Nicotine is highly addictive – which is why it is completely unacceptable for children to get their hands on these products, many of which are undeniably designed to appeal to young people,” she said in a statement.

Recent surveys indicate a sharp increase in the number of young people vaping in Britain. In 2023, 20.5 percent of children aged 11 to 17 had tried it, compared to 15.8 percent in 2022 and 13.9 percent in 2020. according to data from Action on Smoking and Health, an independent public health charity.

The charity said the vast majority used single-use disposable vapes, and the most popular brand was Elf Bar, with the fruit or soft drink flavors most commonly used by that age group.

Disposable vapes, which contain lithium batteries, are also estimated to damage the environment five million According to government statistics, waste was thrown away every week in Britain in 2023, up from 1.3 million a year earlier.

Last week Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, said he was concerned about the growing use of vaping among young people and urged member states to “take swift action to address this emerging threat.”

At a meeting of public health officials in Geneva on Wednesday, Dr. Tedros that although the tobacco industry presented vaping as harmless, “it is fraught with harm and even hurts children.”

“If you hook them with this, they'll think it's smart, fashionable and cool,” he said of vape companies' efforts to market to young people: “And then they'll be lifelong customers of the being a tobacco industry, that's what happens.”

He likened it to “history repeating itself, but in a different form, the same nicotine in a different package,” drawing parallels between the early days of marketing cigarettes to youth.

While it is not illegal for people under the age of 18 to smoke or vape in Britain, it is illegal to sell those products to them. By banning single-use vapes and limiting the flavors and packaging of refillable vapes, the government hopes to make it much less likely that young people will experiment with e-cigarettes.

The measures announced on Monday are part of a broader government strategy to reduce overall tobacco use. Last year, Mr Sunak announced plans to make it illegal to sell cigarettes to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009, so that those who turn 15 or younger this year will never be able to buy them legally.

Other countries are trying to curb vaping's appeal to young people. Australia introduced sweeping legislation late last year banning all vaping without a prescription. French lawmakers have backed a proposal to ban single-use vapes. And New Zealand has done that too has introduced regulations for the marketing of vapors to children.