Gateshead Council has backed calls for tighter restrictions on selling vapes.
The legal age to buy vapes in the UK is 18 years old. The law which made it illegal to sell e-cigarettes or vaping products to anyone under 18 was introduced in October 2015.
The local authority has backed several recommendations from the Local Government Association to tackle the underage sale of vapes.
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These recommendations include:
- Vapes to be in plain packaging and kept out of sight behind the counter.
- Mandatory age of sale signage on vaping products – it’s currently voluntary.
- A ban on free samples of vaping products being given out to people of any age.
The council recommends retailers breaching potential vape signage rules should be penalised in line with current tobacco regulations.
In January this year, Alice Wiseman, the director of public health for Gateshead said: “Vaping is a helpful tool for quitting so, at the same time as continuing to advocate for tighter regulations where needed, we must ensure a balance between protecting young people and supporting smokers to quit.
“Clearly however, we need to reduce the number of young people accessing vape products and the amount of non-compliant products available for sale and we are working closely with our colleagues in Trading Standards to support compliance with regulations and take enforcement action when necessary.”
Anti-smoking charity, Action on Smoking and Health, discovered 8.6% of 11 to 18 year-olds were using vapes compared to 4% in 2021. One in five bought vapes in corner shops while 16.3% bought them from supermarkets.
More than half of trading standard departments in local authorities across the country (60%) identified illicit sales of vapes to children as their number one concern.
According to the NHS “vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking but it is not risk free”.
The NHS also states that vaping has not been around for long enough for long term effects to be studied. Official guidance states: “The healthiest option is not to smoke or vape. If you do not smoke, do not start vaping”.
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