Disposable vape ban ‘too late’, Bradford youth charity says

A planned ban on disposable vapes was “too late” for many young people, according to a West Yorkshire charity.

Last month, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said measures would also be introduced preventing vapes being marketed at children.

The government said the ban would stop the rise in youth vaping and protect children’s health.

But Liz Robinson, from Step 2 Young People’s Health in Bradford, said “lots of young people are already addicted”.

The most recent figures from the Action on Smoking and Health charity suggested 7.6% of 11 to 17 year olds now vaped regularly or occasionally, which was up from 4.1% in 2020.

Ms Robinson, the charity’s chief executive, said: “They’ve let disposable vapes become really common.”

“I’ve talked to young people in a school who say 75% of people in their class are [vaping],” she added.

Ms Robinson said Step 2 ran vaping awareness workshops in secondary schools in Bradford and also intended to start them in primary schools later this year.

She said the devices should never have been made available in places like corner shops and supermarkets,

“They should have been where the other nicotine replacement therapies are.”

‘It’s shocking’

Dixons Sixth Form Academy is among a total of 25 schools in Bradford which have called for tougher rules over vaping.

One student, Maliha, said she was concerned young people were not aware of the potential health risks they posed.

“When you see little children walking to school, primary school children, with a vape in their hand, it’s shocking.

“You think, why is that child being given a vape? Why is nobody intervening?”

However, fellow student Atira, who used vapes, said she believed it had helped her quit smoking cigarettes.

“For people who have genuinely gone through stuff and turned to a vape, they’ve done something that they thought has helped them.

“Vaping has helped so many people come off of cigarettes and having nicotine patches,” she said.

‘Can help quit’

According to the NHS, while vaping was substantially less harmful than smoking, it had not been around long enough for its long-term risks to be known.

Rose Dunlop, deputy director of public health for Bradford, said reducing accessibility and increasing enforcement were key to tackling the issue, but so was balancing the messaging.

“Tobacco is still one of our leading causes of death in Bradford,” she said.

However, it was important that people who used tobacco knew that “as part of a quick programme” vapes and other therapies “can really, really help them quit”, Ms Dunlop said.

The government has previously said the proposed ban on disposable vapes was part of “ambitious government plans to tackle the rise in youth vaping and protect children’s health”.

It is already illegal to sell any vape to anyone under 18, but the proposed ban would see new fines for shops which sold vapes to children and new measures to tackle black market sales.

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].