Ministers are reportedly planning to ban the use of e-cigarettes near playgrounds, hospital grounds and schools to prevent children from picking up the habit. .
Health Secretary Wes Streeting is considering restricting the use of e-cigarettes outdoors in England, with the country's chief medical officer Chris Whitty backing the move.
Regulations for e-cigarettes are expected to be included in the Tobacco and E-Cigarette Bill, which is expected to be introduced in Congress in the coming weeks. Mr Whitty is said to have pushed for pub gardens to be included in the ban, but a final decision has not yet been taken, The Times reported.
Ministers are expected not to include outdoor entertaining following a backlash in August over proposals to ban smoking in pub gardens to reduce the number of preventable deaths linked to tobacco use. .
One million people in the UK now vape despite never having smoked regularly, according to research published earlier this week, a sevenfold increase in just three years. .
The e-cigarette use rate among adults who did not smoke regularly remained stable through 2021, with 1 in 200 (about 133,000 people) using e-cigarettes. However, this rate has sharply increased to 1 in 28 people, or 1,006,000 people, by 2024. The Lancet Public Health Journal.
Separate figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that 5.1 million people over the age of 16 (about one in 10) use e-cigarettes in the UK. The highest rate of e-cigarette smoking was among 16- to 24-year-olds at 15.8%. Oz Found it.
Professor Nick Hopkinson, pulmonologist and chair of Smoking and Health Behavior, said: 'E-cigarettes have helped millions of adults quit smoking and are far less harmful than smoking. ” he said. However, they are not without risks, with high rates of use among young people and concerns about increased use among non-smokers. ”
Professor Sanjay Agrawal, special adviser on tobacco at the Royal College of Physicians, said “urgent action” was needed to tackle the rise in e-cigarette use among young people and people who have never smoked.
“While e-cigarettes remain a valuable tool to help smokers quit, it is important that their use does not create new public health risks, particularly for children,” he said. Ta.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We do not comment on leaks. E-cigarettes are an effective tool to help adult smokers quit smoking, but children should never vape.
“The Tobacco and E-Cigarette Bill is a decisive and forward-looking move that will prevent future generations from becoming addicted to nicotine and stop e-cigarettes and other nicotine products from being intentionally branded to target children. It will make a difference.”
