According to the British Medical Association (BMA) 7.6% of 11-17 year old are now vaping, either regularly or occasionally compared to just 1.3% in 2014 citing the widespread availability of disposable vapes as one of the reason for the sharp rise in child use.
In its report “Taking our breath away: why we need stronger regulations of vapes” the BMA has made 8 recommendations, calling on the government to do more to stop children vaping, especially because the long term public health impact of these products is largely unknown.
The World Health Organisation has declared vapes harmful and evidence confirms the dangers of vaping, particularly for children with disorders such as lung damage, worsening asthma symptoms, including wheezing, coughing and chest tightness.
Amongst the recommendations made by the BMA are to ban the commercial sale of all disposable vapes, ban non-tobacco vape flavours, reduce advertising and marketing of vapes and to tackle the illegal sales of vapes.
