Up to one million Britons will forced to return to tobacco, or buy disposable vapes on the black market, as a result of the Government’s new Elf Bar ban according to new research.
A poll of 2,000 adults revealed that 38 percent of regular smokers, and recent ex-smokers, who have used vaping to reduce or quit their habit would either smoke more cigarettes or purchase illegal vapes if such a ban came into force.
Those behind the poll, the Independent British Vape Trade Association, said this finding equates to more than one million UK adult smokers and recent ex-smokers – those who quit less than five years ago.
The findings come as Rishi Sunak announced just such a ban on disposable vapes, arguing too many young people are taking up the habit having not previously smoked cigarettes.
New measures will also be introduced for non-disposable vapes, supposedly to prevent them from being marketed towards young people.
These measures include cigarette-style plain packaging, as well as a ban on certain flavours and a crackdown on underage sales.
Figures from the anti-smoking group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) suggest 7.6 percent of 11-17-year-olds now vape regularly or occasionally.
Rishi Sunak has said the trend is “worrying” and proves the Government must act “before it becomes endemic”.
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins told the BBC this morning she is confident the new Bill will pass before the General Election, and come into force in 2025.
However, the move has been blasted by the UK Vaping Industry Association and others, who argue disposable vapes are playing a “key role in helping millions of adults quit and stay off cigarettes”.
He said: “While action to prevent youth access to vaping is critical, this move smacks more of a desperate attempt by the government to sacrifice vapers for votes.”
The right-wing Institute for Economic Affairs think tank has also slammed the new policy, warning it is “illiberal and counterproductive”.
Christopher Snowdon, the group’s head of lifestyle, said the Government hasn’t properly thought out the policy.
She said: “The generational ban on tobacco sales will be a farce and will spawn all the problems associated with prohibition. Most of the Government’s anti-vaping policies are effectively pro-smoking policies as they will drive vapers back to cigarettes.
“There is clear evidence that e-cigarette flavour bans are associated with an increase in cigarette sales. Only last week, a study funded by Cancer Research UK expressed strong reservations about a blanket ban on disposable vapes which are used by 2.6 million Britons.
“The Government is throwing the baby out with the bath water with plain packaging, flavour bans and prohibition of disposable vapes. The real answer is to enforce the law banning the sale of e-cigarettes to minors which is being flouted up and down the country.”
Research published by UCL in December argued that the decline in smoking rates has stalled, in part due to the increased negative headlines around vaping.
YouGov polling from January this year indicated that 11 percent of people now think vaping is as, or more, harmful than smoking, while 41 percent think both are about the same.
This public perception is despite Public Health England’s findings that vaping is 95 percent safer than tobacco use.
