Vaping has grown exponentially over the past decade. Vaping shops have proliferated along British high streets, the global market for vapes has increased 8,000-fold since 2016 and vape manufacturers sponsor football and Formula One teams. But it divides opinion sharply.
On the one hand, the tobacco industry – and, to some extent, Public Health England – argues that vaping is a much safer alternative to smoking and that it helps smokers give up. On the other, public health experts, including the World Health Organization, point to its dangers, for children and young people in particular, and urge much more caution than the liberal approach that the UK has decided to take.
