It is unlikely that disposable vapes reduce the call, explains the activist

It is unlikely that the ban on single -use vapes to reduce the attraction of electronic cigarettes to adolescents because the reusable models are so similar to disposables, warned the leader of a campaign group.

Disposable vapes will be prohibited in the United Kingdom on Sunday in order to limit the vaping rates of young people and reduce electronic waste.

But Hazel Cheeseman, Managing Director of Action On Smoking and Health (ASH), said that the new reusable vapes are “very similar” to single -use vapes, which means that it is “improbable [the ban] will have so much impact on the attraction of products “.

The Minister of the Circular Economy Mary Creagh said that the government “took measures and prohibited single -use vapes to reduce waste and environmental damage”.

The government previously declared that the prohibition “would reduce the appeal of vapes to children”.

A quarter of 11 to 15 years old tried vaping and almost 1 out of 10 vape, according to NHS research from 2024.

Ms. Cheeseman praised legislation as a step towards stricter regulations on vaping products, but said that stronger measures will be necessary to make the Vapot less attractive for young people who have never smoked.

“Teenagers were not attracted to these products because you could throw them away,” she told BBC Breakfast.

“They were attracted to them because they were in bright colors, because they were cheap, and they were really, really available. All these things will always be true on Sunday.”

Some reusable vapes have “identical” packaging to their single-use counterparts, are sold at the same price and give customers little information about how to fill them, she said.

“Manufacturers do not allow people to easily change their behavior.”

The Government Tobacco and Vape Bill, separate legislation, will give ministers the power to take measures that “will probably reduce the attraction of these products to adolescents,” she said.

These actions include the regulation of the packaging and design of vape products, as well as the restriction of advertising.

Vaping is significantly less harmful than smoking cigarettes, but it has not been there for long enough for its long -term risks to be known, according to the NHS.

For this reason, it is only recommended as a method to help adult smokers to leave.

Despite her concerns concerning her effect on the adoption of adolescents, Ms. Cheeseman said that the prohibition of disposable products was “important regulations” which will help facilitate the “large environmental burden” of vaping.

Nearly five million single -use vapes were thrown every week in 2023, according to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

In addition to the lithium-ion batteries, vapes contain printed circuits, which can flee toxic compounds if they are not eliminated correctly.

A transition to reusable vapes, which can be recharged and filled with e-liquid, would in theory of users to keep electronic cigarettes longer without creating waste.

But some have raised concerns about whether the prohibition will have this effect.

Kate Pike, principal tobacco and vaping officer at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, said that reusable vapes cost the same as disposables “is concern”.

“It is a real concern that people continue to use them as disposable disposables and therefore it will not help limit damage to the environment,” she said in the Teday program at BBC Radio 4.

She added that there is an “expensive advantage” to reuse and recharge a vape, instead of buying a new one, so she hopes that fewer vapes will be thrown. “But it’s a potential danger,” she said.

John Dunne, Managing Director of the UK Vaping Industry Association, said that the prohibition was “poorly thought out”.

The evolution of the regulations to allow Vapes to have larger reservoir sizes would have been “more judicious”, he told the TODAY program, as this would have increased the prices from £ 5 to up to 10 or £ 15.

The ban on disposable vapes was announced for the first time under the previous conservative government.

The Labor Party confirmed that he would keep the legislation in October of last year, the Minister of Defra Creagh, saying that the disposable vapes were “extremely useless and burning our cities and our cities”.

The government also said that the ban on disposables “would reduce the attraction of vapes to children and keep them out of the vulnerable young people.”