More than 100,000 London teenagers have vaped, figures show, amid growing calls for a ban on the marketing of vape products to children.
The latest data from the Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use survey estimates that 15 per cent of children aged between 11 and 15 in the capital had used an e-cigarette in 2021.
Labour claimed the figure amounted to around 101,000 students across the capital, with some 34,000 children describing themselves as regular e-cigarette users.
It is illegal to sell vapes to children aged under 18, but health experts have warned that are being targeted by e-cigarette companies using colourful packaging and fruity flavours.
While it is less harmful than smoking, vaping still carries a health risk. Most vapes contain nicotine, a highly addictive substance which can impair the development of the brain during adolescence.
Last month, NHS figures revealed 40 children and young people were admitted to hospital in England last year for “vaping related disorders”, up from 11 two years earlier.
Labour will on Wednesday table a motion in the House of Commons calling for a ban the marketing of vapes to children.
Labour's Shadow Public Health Minister Andrew Gwynne said: “We cannot allow a new generation of kids to get hooked on nicotine.
“Vapes are a stop smoking tool for adults, they aren't for kids. It's shameful that the Government is allowing vaping companies to profit by targeting children with their addictive substances.
“The next Labour Government will ban the packaging and marketing of vapes to children and give every child a healthy start to life.”
A source close to Health Secretary Steve Barclay accused the party of “playing political games” by triggering a Commons debate, saying that ministers were “already cracking down on illegal vape sales and recently held a call-for-evidence to inform further measures to curb youth vaping”.
“Conservatives are acting to protect children from the potential harms of vaping and cutting NHS waiting lists,” they added.
Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) launched a consultation on youth vaping, which closed on June 6. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has already pledged to close a loophole that allows shops to offer free samples of vapes to children in England.
Tory MP Dr Caroline Johnson told the Health and Social Care Committee last month that eight children from a secondary school in her constituency required hospital treatment after using electronic cigarettes.
She said: “I was talking to a teacher from my constituency just recently who said that she has pupils in her school who are struggling to get through a double maths lesson because they need to go out and vape.
“They are vaping in their school bathrooms in between lessons. Some of them are struggling with a whole night’s sleep because they’re waking up desperate to have a vape, and so the degree to which some of our children are getting addicted to these things is really very concerning.”
