Children’s doctors are calling for a complete ban on disposable vapes because they may damage young people’s lungs and are bad for the environment.
But an anti-smoking campaign group says a ban would make it harder for some adults to give up smoking and increase the trade in illegal vapes.
UK governments are planning steps to reduce vaping among under-18s.
These are likely to include tighter rules on how vaping products are marketed and promoted.
Selling vapes or e-cigarettes to children is illegal, but that has not stopped a rise in 11 to 17-year-olds experimenting with vaping – from 7.7% in 2022 up to 11.6% in 2023, according to a YouGov survey for Action on Smoking and Health (Ash).
About 15% of 16 to 17-year-olds and 18% of 18-year-olds are current vapers, it suggests.
Brightly-coloured nicotine vapes in a variety of flavours, which are used once and then thrown away, are the most popular product among teenagers, who tend to get them from corner shops for about £5 each.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently said it was “ridiculous” that vapes were designed and promoted to appeal to children when they were supposed to be used by adults giving up smoking.
A BBC investigation found unsafe levels of lead, nickel and chromium in vapes confiscated from a secondary school, which could end up being inhaled into children’s lungs. Scientists analysing the vapes said they were the worst lab test results of their kind they had ever seen.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) now says the UK government should “without a doubt” ban disposable e-cigarettes.
“Youth vaping is fast becoming an epidemic among children, and I fear that if action is not taken, we will find ourselves sleepwalking into a crisis,” said Dr Mike McKean, paediatric respiratory consultant and RCPCH vice-president.
Health experts stress that smoking cigarettes, which contain tobacco, is still the single biggest cause of preventable illness and disease in the UK.
However, Dr McKean said vaping products were “not risk-free” and research on them was “still very much in its infancy”, meaning it was not possible to predict the long-term impacts on young people’s lungs, hearts and brains.
