Meeting of the Parliament 14 September 2023
Sadly, I will not. I would love to but, unfortunately, I have only four minutes.
Given that it is estimated that 76,000 under-18s in Scotland vape and that they use primarily single-use vapes, it is evident that those colourful, fruit-flavoured, cheap devices are no longer only a means of quitting smoking. For as long as we allow single-use vapes to be sold in shops where they are placed next to sweets and often put on special offer, we will encourage younger people to damage their health.
I welcome recent reports that the UK Government will also explore the banning of single-use vapes following consultation on youth vaping. However, last week, it was reported that the Tories accepted a £350,000 donation from Sandeep Singh Chadha, director of Supreme 8 Ltd, a UK-based company that distributes Elf Bars, which are vapes that are regularly found littered around Scotland. Elf Bar flavours include watermelon, bubble gum and cotton candy ice, which are unequivocally aimed at enticing children and young people.
The UK Government’s official briefing on banning free vape samples being distributed to children endorsed Juul Labs, claiming that the company was a leader in combating youth vaping. That same company has received the most complaints of any vape-producing company for fuelling an epidemic of youth vaping in the US, where it agreed to pay out more than $1 billion to settle claims that it unlawfully promoted products to children. That is highly concerning, and it suggests that the UK Government’s policy on youth vaping could be determined by the interests of the industry, rather than on the basis of the evidence.
We know that tobacco companies profit from industry-induced nicotine addiction and that they attract people as young as possible. The UK cigarette market is the largest in western Europe—in 2021, it was worth £2.6 billion. Given that the UK’s five top-selling tobacco companies held more than a third of shares in the global e-cigarette market as of 2021, it is clear that the so-called health benefits of vaping are not the driver for further increasing sales.
The World Health Organization has described tobacco industry interests as
“fundamentally and irreconcilably opposed to the aims of public health”.
Those same companies are currently dictating the vaping market that tens of thousands of children and young people buy into. The earlier children and young adults become addicted to nicotine, the higher the likelihood that they will continue to buy vapes for the rest of their lives or switch to cigarettes.
Ten per cent of young vape users admit to throwing the devices on the ground after use, as Laura Young’s campaign to ban disposable vapes highlighted through regular litter picks. I am taking part in a litter pick on a beach on Monday, so no doubt I will find some, too.
Almost half of young vapers said that the packaging does not provide any disposal information such as where to send used batteries. In the past year, 13 million disposable vapes were incorrectly disposed of in Scotland, including 2.6 million that were littered.
Given that e-cigarette companies are not taking responsibility for the health impacts of the waste pollution that they cause, it is essential that the Scottish Government acts to ban the devices, which harm the environment and the wellbeing of Scots. With several other European countries considering bans, Scotland taking steps to stop the sale of single-use vapes is a significant opportunity—