Maldives Becomes the Only Country with Generational Smoking Ban

THE GUARDIAN: Indian Ocean archipelago bans anyone born after 1 January 2007 from buying or using tobacco in order to ‘promote a tobacco-free generation’

The Maldives began implementing a smoking ban on anyone born after January 2007, becoming the only country with a generational prohibition on tobacco, according to its health ministry.

The move, which was initiated by the president, Mohamed Muizzu, earlier this year and came into effect on 1 November, will “protect public health and promote a tobacco-free generation”, the ministry said.

“Under the new provision, individuals born on or after 1 January 2007 are prohibited from purchasing, using, or being sold tobacco products within the Maldives,” it added.

“The ban applies to all forms of tobacco, and retailers are required to verify age prior to sale.”

The measure also applies to visitors to the nation of 1,191 tiny coral islets scattered some 800km (500 miles) across the equator and known for its luxury tourism. » | Agence France-Presse | Saturday, November 1 2025

Les Maldives deviennent le seul pays au monde à introduire une interdiction générationnelle de fumer : La vente de produits de tabac à un mineur est passible d’une amende de 50.000 rufiyaa (environ 2800 euros), tandis que l’utilisation d’appareils de vapotage est passible d’une amende de 5000 rufiyaa (280 euros). »

Wer nach 2006 geboren ist, darf auf den Malediven nicht mehr rauchen: Sommer, Sonne, Rauchverbot: Die Malediven verbieten allen, die nach 2006 geboren wurden, Tabakprodukte. Die Regelung bezieht sich auch auf E-Zigaretten. Und ja, sie gilt auch für Touristen. »

This generational smoking ban will cause more problems than it will ever solve! The first problem with it is this: Young people will find other ways to satisfy their desire to rebel, other ways to get their kicks. And those other ways might well be, nay probably will be, far more injurious to health than tobacco-smoking ever could be.

Keir Starmer has a similar bill working its way through Parliament. He, too, is going to have to learn the hard way that a generational smoking ban will solve NOTHING. He will surely find that such a ban will create far more problems than it will ever solve. We are being led by fools. And killjoys! If this bill successfully passes through Parliament in the UK, when Starmer is kicked out of office, the law will surely have to be repealed. — © Mark Alexander

Spain's New Smoking Law Plans Could Mean Big Changes for Travellers

EURO NEWS: Spain's new regulations would also cover the use of electronic cigarettes and vapes as the country moves to impose stricter controls on tobacco marketing and product distribution in a bid to boost public health.

Spain's coalition government has approved a draft bill restricting smoking in public places that could have a significant impact on travellers.

The proposed legislation will ban smoking and vaping in outdoor spaces, including sports venues, beaches, restaurant and bar terraces.

"We'll always put public health ahead of private interests," Spain’s health minister Monica Garcia told reporters. "Everyone has a right to breathe clean air and live longer and better lives."

The proposed measures have drawn opposition from restaurant and bar owners, who say Spain's year-round outdoor dining culture is boosted significantly by customers who smoke.

Smoking indoors has been prohibited since 2011. » | Rebecca Ann-Hughes | Thursday, September 11, 2025

What is there about socialist governments that they always want to curtail people’s rights and freedoms? Is there something in socialists’ DNA, or something? Each European nation seems to be losing all sense of la dolce vita ! — © Mark Alexander

Vaping May Be Causing Irreversible Harm to Children’s Health, Doctors Say

THE GUARDIAN: Experts ‘extremely concerned’ about e-cigarette use and say millions of young people could face ill health in future

Doctors have raised the alarm about high levels of vaping among children worldwide, saying they are convinced e-cigarettes are causing irreversible harm to their health.
Cardiologists, researchers and health experts said they were “extremely concerned” about the harmful effects of e-cigarettes on millions of teenagers and young people, including exposure to toxins and carcinogens – some of which are still unknown.

Nicotine levels in e-cigarettes can be very high, raising the risk of addiction and injury to the developing brains of adolescents. Children are also risking long-term cardiovascular effects as a result of vaping at school and college, experts say.

Speaking at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) annual congress in Madrid, the world’s largest heart conference, Prof Maja-Lisa Løchen, a senior cardiologist at the University hospital of North Norway, said she was concerned that millions of children could face ill health in future. » | Andrew Gregory, Health editor in Madrid | Monday, September 1, 2025

This is what happens when do-gooding POLITICIANS interfere in people’s personal habits.

If politicians had left things alone, the number of people who smoked was generally coming down, especially in the UK. By promoting e-cigarettes, they have ensured that the smoking habit will endure. Today’s young vapers are tomorrow’s smokers. Do you really think that an adult is going to be satisfied with a mandarin-flavoured vape? FCS, give me a break! Once they mature, people who vape are in serious danger of graduating to the real thing: cigarettes.

In any case, I believe that real cigarettes do less harm to health than e-cigarettes. Prove me wrong! — © Mark Alexander

Smoking - Anatomy of an Addiction Industry | DW Documentary | Reupload

Dec 13, 2024 | Smoking has an image problem, because everyone knows: it can kill you. That’s why tobacco multinationals are increasingly focused on e-cigarettes, enticing consumers with bright colors and fruity flavors. The target group: young people.

The World Health Organization says smoking results in the death of eight million people every year. That’s one reason why you’ll now often hear tobacco companies promoting the switch to e-cigarettes, with claims that these are less harmful to our health. It’s first and foremost young people who believe the industry’s promises, thereby taking the first step on the road to addiction. After all, nicotine is an addictive substance. And although it may taste better than tobacco, puffing on a vape is still going to get you hooked in precisely the same way as smoking a regular cigarette. The film investigates the cynicism of an industry that not only accepts this, but also deliberately aims for it.

Big Nicotine - Anatomy of an Addiction Industry /TEMPS PRESENT / Laurent Burkhalter & Philippe Mach / 2024 / RTS Radio television Suisse

Just How Harmful Is Vaping? More Evidence Is Emerging.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: A new study that found high levels of heavy metals in popular nicotine vapes adds to concerns about the products.

OK McCausland for The New York Times
When vapes started to become popular in the mid-2010s, the tiny cartridges carried big promises. They were presented as a healthier alternative to cigarettes and a path to quit smoking.

Now, researchers are coming to understand the hazards of vapes themselves. In a study from last month, for example, a team of scientists analyzed the mist from popular vapes and found such high levels of heavy metals that one researcher thought their machine had malfunctioned. Other studies have suggested that vaping can affect the heart, lungs and brain.

Experts said they were worried that vaping may become harder to study after the Trump administration shut down a unit focused on smoking and health. The government has also slashed funds for programs that help people stop vaping.

Data on the long-term health effects is limited, because vapes are relatively new and constantly evolving. Many people who use them are in their teens or 20s; it might take a while before further effects become apparent. Consumers also often use both cigarettes and vapes, which makes it difficult to isolate harms from vaping alone. Vaping is still less common than cigarette use among U.S. adults, 4.5 percent of whom said they vaped in 2021. Nearly 8 percent of high school students reported vaping in the last month in a 2024 survey.

Even so, “common sense tells you — your mom would tell you — that a superheated chemical inhaling right into your lungs isn’t going to be good,” said Dr. James H. Stein, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. Increasingly, research is pointing to the reality that while vapes do not contain the same dangerous chemicals as cigarettes, they come with their own harms. » | Dani Blum | Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Leer en español.

Young Vape Users Three Times As Likely to Start Smoking, Study Finds

THE GUARDIAN: Review warns e-cigarettes could act as gateway to smoking and are also linked to higher asthma and other health risks

Young people who vape are three times as likely to start smoking, develop asthma and have poor mental health as those who do not, according to a study that lays bare the health impacts of e-cigarettes.

Vaping among young people is consistently linked to later smoking, according to the largest umbrella review of all the evidence on youth vaping, which warns that e-cigarettes could act as a gateway.

The researchers found associations with other harmful consequences including asthma, cough, injuries and mental ill health, as well as possible risks of respiratory disease, headaches, poor oral health and substance use. » | Rachel Hall | Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Starmer’s generational smoking ban is a pipe dream. He’s got no more chance of making a success of it than he has of stopping burglaries or supermarket theft. We do not have enough police to enforce such a smoking ban.

My regular visitors will be aware of the fact that I have always stated that encouraging vaping to replace smoking regular cigarettes will only lead to more smokers of regular cigarettes down the line. Now, it seems, researchers have caught up. It really was only common sense from the very start.

From the start, it would have been better if governments had not encouraged vaping to replace smoking. Had they left things alone, the smoking rate had been coming down quite drastically anyway. That trend has been put into reverse now. Meddlesome is as meddlesome does! — © Mark Alexander

Third of UK Teenagers Who Vape Will Go On to Start Smoking, Research Shows

THE GUARDIAN: Findings suggest e-cigarettes increasingly act as ‘gateway’ to nicotine for children, undermining earlier falling rates

A third of UK teenagers who vape will go on to start smoking tobacco, research shows, meaning they are as likely to smoke as their peers were in the 1970s.

A long-term intergenerational study found that the likelihood of starting to smoke among people aged 17 in 2018 was about 1.5% if they did not vape compared with 33% if they did.

The findings suggest that e-cigarettes are increasingly acting as a “gateway” to nicotine cigarettes for children, undermining falling rates of teen smoking over the past 50 years. » | Rachel Hall | Tuesday, July 29, 2025

This is what I have been saying all along. It doesn’t take a genius to figure this out. Real cigarettes are often super unappealing to young children—when I was a child, I couldn’t bear the smell of smoke and avoided people smoking!—but those vapes are a different story altogether. They come in all manner of appealing flavours—strawberry, apricot, blackcurrant, chocolate, etc.—so how would they not be appealing to children. Once children get into the habit of enjoying puffing away on an e-cigarette, when they mature, they will naturally be tempted to graduate to the real thing: cigarettes. Smoking is here to stay! And that killjoy Starmer will never be able to enforce a generational smoking ban. For starters, who on earth is going to be able to police it? Our police forces can’t control theft from supermarkets, still less will they ever be able to enforce a smoking ban. – © Mark Alexander

Just How Harmful Is Vaping? More Evidence Is Emerging.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: A new study that found high levels of heavy metals in popular nicotine vapes adds to concerns about the products.

When vapes started to become popular in the mid-2010s, the tiny cartridges carried big promises. They were presented as a healthier alternative to cigarettes and a path to quit smoking.

Now, researchers are coming to understand the hazards of vapes themselves. In a study from last month, for example, a team of scientists analyzed the mist from popular vapes and found such high levels of heavy metals that one researcher thought their machine had malfunctioned. Other studies have suggested that vaping can affect the heart, lungs and brain.

Experts said they were worried that vaping may become harder to study after the Trump administration shut down a unit focused on smoking and health. The government has also slashed funds for programs that help people stop vaping.

Data on the long-term health effects is limited, because vapes are relatively new and constantly evolving. Many people who use them are in their teens or 20s; it might take a while before further effects become apparent. Consumers also often use both cigarettes and vapes, which makes it difficult to isolate harms from vaping alone. Vaping is still less common than cigarette use among U.S. adults, 4.5 percent of whom said they vaped in 2021. Nearly 8 percent of high school students reported vaping in the last month in a 2024 survey. » | Dani Blum | Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Leer en español.

Smoking - Anatomy of an Addiction Industry | DW Documentary | Reupload

Dec 13, 2024 | Smoking has an image problem, because everyone knows: it can kill you. That’s why tobacco multinationals are increasingly focused on e-cigarettes, enticing consumers with bright colors and fruity flavors. The target group: young people.

The World Health Organization says smoking results in the death of eight million people every year. That’s one reason why you’ll now often hear tobacco companies promoting the switch to e-cigarettes, with claims that these are less harmful to our health. It’s first and foremost young people who believe the industry’s promises, thereby taking the first step on the road to addiction. After all, nicotine is an addictive substance. And although it may taste better than tobacco, puffing on a vape is still going to get you hooked in precisely the same way as smoking a regular cigarette. The film investigates the cynicism of an industry that not only accepts this, but also deliberately aims for it.

Big Nicotine - Anatomy of an Addiction Industry /TEMPS PRESENT / Laurent Burkhalter & Philippe Mach / 2024 / RTS Radio television Suisse

Hollyoaks Star Paul Danan Dies Aged 46

THE TELEGRAPH: Actor, who also appeared on Celebrity Love Island, collapsed last year after his vape addiction caused respiratory failure

Paul Danan, the Hollyoaks star, has died after a health battle from “obsessive vaping”.

The actor’s management confirmed the 46-year-old’s death on Thursday morning.

Danan, who featured in the Channel 4 soap from 1997 to 2001, last year revealed that he collapsed after his vape addiction caused respiratory failure.

He was rushed to hospital and eventually revived with CPR, where doctors told him he needed to quit.

Speaking at the time, he said vaping had “pushed him over the edge” as he wrongly thought it was a “safer way to smoke”. » | Tom McArdle | Thursday, January 16, 2025

Smoking conventional cigarettes is, in my opinion, far safer than vaping. Politicians and quacks have been very wrong and totally irresponsible to push vaping as a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes. They are pushing a product which we know far too little about.

It is clear to me, and it should be clear to you, that e-cigarettes are bound to be unhealthier than cigarettes, and for several reasons. Firstly, they are full of plastics – imagine inhaling all that gunge into your lungs! Secondly, people who vape do so incessantly! They hold their e-cigarettes constantly in their hands and puff on them forevermore. This is not how a normal smoker smokes. When you smoke a cigarette, you smoke it, enjoy it, inhale the smoke, get the pleasure, and then stub it out. Then, for a not too heavy smoker, time elapses before you light another one. The people I have observed vaping do so constantly.

This poor actor clearly bought into the lies that politicians and quacks have fed him. May the poor man rest in peace.

This war on conventional cigarette-smoking needs to stop. Of course it is better not to smoke in an ideal world. Unfortunately, we don’t live in an ideal world. People seek out their pleasures and their kicks. And when cigarettes are now so expensive and when it has become virtually impossible to smoke anywhere but in one’s own home, they turn to other sources of pleasure. And most of those sources of pleasure are even unhealthier than cigarette-smoking.

This social engineering must stop. The health of the nation is at stake. – © Mark Alexander

I’m a Doctor and I Think It’s Wrong to Ban Smoking outside Hospitals

THE TELEGRAPH: Addicts cannot simply quit as soon as they enter hospital and the activity gives them some much-needed relief

Labour’s plan to ban smoking on hospital grounds is the epitome of a top-down initiative by a nanny-state government. It’s a great example of politicians having an idea, without actually being involved in the practicalities. They don’t understand how hospitals work because they don’t work in hospitals. This solution is a poor sticking plaster to a nation-wide problem.

When it comes to hospitals, we have to be liberal about smoking out of sheer empathy for the patients – many of whom are at the end of their lives. There’s no doubt that smoking is bad for you, so I’m not suggesting that we should encourage people to do it. But for many patients it’s a lifeline – a practice that brings comfort and relief at times of deep distress.

We also cannot ignore the fact that smoking is first and foremost an addiction – you can’t just give it up when you are admitted to hospital. Walk into any hospital in the country, even in the height of winter when it’s freezing cold, and you will see patients standing outside the main entrance in pyjamas with drip stands and drugs, smoking. Some will be smoking as relief from the stress of the intense hospital environment, some will be socialising and enjoying time together and some will be relishing the feeling of a comforting habit that they’ve enjoyed all their lives. » | Karol Sikora * | Tuesday, November 5, 2024

* Prof Karol Sikora is a leading cancer specialist, who worked as a clinical director in the NHS for more than 25 years.

THE GUARDIAN:

Smoking to be banned outside schools and hospitals in England, but pubs get reprieve: Legislation also includes ban on advertising of vapes and restrictions on flavours, packaging and marketing »

England May Not Be ‘Smoke-free’ until 2039, Cancer Charity Warns

THE GUARDIAN: Government plan to reduce smoking rates in danger of falling a decade behind schedule

England will not be “smoke-free” until 2039, missing a key public health target by almost a decade, an analysis has found.

While smoking rates are in decline they are not falling fast enough to realise the government’s ambition of England being smoke-free” by 2030, according to Cancer Research UK (CRUK).

And stark socioeconomic inequalities in smoking – with poorer people much more likely to light up than the well-off – will continue for decades to come, its research shows. » | Denis Campbell, Health policy editor | Monday, November 4, 2024

England will never be, and should never be, smoke-free! Why? Because if it could ever be done, it would be replaced by something far, far worse. These politicians and do-gooders don’t understand ONE BASIC THING about human psychology. It is this: People WILL get their kicks from somehere! If these ill-informed people think that all people are just going to go to work each day, go home, and then go to bed without having any of the pleasures of life, then they are greatly mistaken.

As for cancer, it is a terrible disease. I have known several people who have died from it. They were NOT smokers! Whilst it is true that smoking can cause cancer, especially lung cancer, according to trustworthy sources on the Internet, it is only between 5 and 10% of HEAVY SMOKERS who contract it. Eliminating smoking will not eliminate cancer!

Further, taxing cigarettes to the hilt, thus making them too expensive for people to be able to afford to smoke government-controlled cigarettes only pushes people to buy them on the black market. I am told that the black market for cigarettes in the United Kingdom is thriving! It certainly is in Australia.

Just in case anyone thinks that my opinions are biased because I am myself a smoker, please think again! I quit smoking on April 10th 2022. That is almost two years and seven months ago. I haven’t smoked a cigarette since that day. But I am on the side of smokers because over the years, I have derived untold pleasure from smoking cigarettes. I always smoked out of choice, NOT out of addiction! I have bever been addicted to anything. Not even cigarettes.

I wish these joyless people would just give up their social engineering. They try and say that smoking is now predominantly a working-class habit. TOSH! How many people in the working class can afford to smoke these days? With current prices in the UK, it is only the super-privileged who can afford to smoke. For the less well-off, they must be rolling their own, or something.

By the way, when governments make cigarettes extremely expensive, they are doing something deleterious to the health of smokers. And for one simple reason: Governments have no control over the quality of the cigarettes being illegally imported from Asia and the Far East. In years to come, governments will be finding that the health of smokers will be worse than if they had been smoking legal, quality-controlled cigarettes. This, if anything, will place a burden on the health service in years to come.

Moreover, it is stupid to encourage vaping as a replacement of smoking. In the not-too-distant future, they will find that vaping is more injurious to health than smoking cigarettes. Governments need to meddle less in people’s lifestyle choices, they need to stop sweating the little things. Instead, they need to concentrate on the important things. That is what proper governments should do. – © Mark Alexander

Disposable vapes ban could push some users back to smoking, ministers told: Defra report warns there could be ‘health disbenefits’ with 29% of vapers reverting or relapsing to cigarettes »

'Pack of Cigs and a Bic Lighter': Why Are Celebs Glamorising Smoking Again? »

Sharp Rise in Vaping among Young Adult Non-smokers

BBC: The number of adults in England to have started vaping despite never having been regular smokers has reached one million, scientists estimate.

This is a sharp increase on 2020, with disposable vapes having been available since 2021. The rise is driven mostly by young adults - with about one out of every seven 18-24-year-olds who never regularly smoked now using e-cigarettes. While some may have benefited by taking up vapes instead of traditional cigarettes - the trend could be worrying, experts say. » | Smitha Mundasad, Health reporter, BBC News | Thursday, October 3, 2024

Is vaping bad for you and how are the rules changing?: he number of adults and young people using e-cigarettes and vapes has increased as smoking rates have fallen. »

It serves the silly fools right! They have waged an unrelenting war on smoking cigarettes for years, and now we have this vaping problem instead!

Nobody in his right mind would advocate smoking, but the FACT remains that we do not live in Utopia. People will seek out their pleasures regardless of what stupid, controlling governments might wish. IDIOTIC WESTERN GOVERNMENTS have created this vaping problem because they have PUSHED vaping as a healthier alternative to cigarette smoking. IT ISN’T! If they had left things alone, smoking rates were declining significantly anyway. But now, because of their stupid policies, vaping rates have increased significantly. VAPING IS EXTREMEMELY UNHEALTHY. Probably unhealthier than smoking cigarettes. Further, behaviour patterns in the States show us that many people who now vape move on to cigarette smoking as they mature. Vaping is, after all, more appealing to the young. Mature people prefer cigarette smoking.

Best not to vape and best not to smoke, but if you have to choose, I would say smoking is a far better option. Make smoking cool again! It makes sense. – © Mark Alexander

How to Quit Vaping

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Millions of Americans use e-cigarettes. There’s little research into how to help them stop.

By his junior year of college, Zach Arledge had already tried to quit vaping about half a dozen times. But with each attempt, he found himself reflexively reaching for his Juul within a day.

So when he decided to try again, Mr. Arledge wanted to be prepared. He waited until winter break, when he’d have more free time, and took a week off work. He bought sugary cereals to help kick his cravings, and melatonin in case he had trouble sleeping.

He drew 72 squares onto paper, each one representing an hour of his first three days without nicotine. He marked them off as the hours ticked by, checking off a chunk when he woke up. Those first days, Mr. Arledge felt detached from his body, unable to focus on anything. He chewed on chopsticks and stayed in front of the TV, trying to distract himself.

The nicotine in vapes can be highly addictive, and can raise blood sugar, heart rate and blood pressure, among other health risks. And while some people turn to vaping to stop smoking cigarettes, e-cigarettes can contain substances that also pose health risks.

Despite the popularity of vapes — more than 8 million Americans were current e-cigarette users in 2018, according to federal health data — there is little established guidance to help people like Mr. Arledge quit. Many of the recommendations that do exist come from tobacco cessation efforts, not research into vaping specifically. » | Dani Blum | Wednesday, July 10, 2024

Vape Ban, Smoking Ban: Rishi Sunak's "Nanny State" | The New Statesman Podcast

Feb 3, 2024 | This week's disposable vape ban follows a generational ban on smoking and an XL Bully ban. Is this Rishi Sunak's legacy?

The mere idea of having a smoking ban for an adult is OUTRAGEOUS! Kick Sunak OUT of OFFICE NOW!

By the way: Maybe Sunak’s daughters will one day fall in love with, and marry, smokers. What a delightful, delicious thought! – © Mark Alexander

Some Thoughts on Vaping

I recently wrote a short essay on smoking and drinking. In it, I pointed out that I had been smoke-free for a full year and a half. I also pointed out that I disagreed with vaping being touted as a healthier alternative to smoking, pointing out that we know far too little about the habit yet to be able to tell.

This sad article on the BBC website today about a young 12-year old girl with lung damage helps prove my point.

In my experience as a person qualified in education, I would say that it is irresponsible to encourage this habit, especially among the young. Our young have been encouraged to take up the vaping habit because of the unrelenting war on smoking, cigarettes and tobacco. I stand by my words: vaping should not be encouraged, at least not at this time and at least not until we have many more years of experience with it. Originally, vaping was put forward as a way to help smokers to quit. And for that purpose, vapes should have been made available only on prescription. But vaping is no longer simply a means of giving up smoking; it is now an alternative to smoking, a habit to which young people have quickly been drawn.

It goes without saying that smoking is an unhealthy habit. Therefore, I have no problem with our government or the medical profession educating people on the dangers of habit. But that is as far as it should go. Cigarettes should not be made so expensive that they become unaffordable for anyone except for the superrich. In doing that, it makes the pleasurable habit affordable only for the privileged few. Ironically, it also make the habit more attractive! After all, if everyone could drive a Bentley, they would soon lose their appeal.

Whenever governments get involved, they screw things up. Governments should adopt a hands-off approach, being satisfied that they are doing all they can to inform people of the dangers. It is precisely because governments have been meddling that we now face the huge problem of so many of our young people being addicted to e-cigarettes and vaping! Do-gooders rarely do good; usually, they achieve the opposite.

© Mark Alexander

All Rights Reserved

Philip Morris lobbying to stop WHO ‘attack’ on vapes and similar products: Exclusive: Leaked email shows firm behind Marlboro cigarettes critical of global ‘prohibitionist’ agenda »

Australia to Ban Recreational Vaping - BBC News

May 30, 2023 | Australia is set to ban recreational vaping as part of major crackdown amid what experts say is an "epidemic". This means that vape products can only be sold with a prescription. New measures will have to be passed by Parliament before becoming law. However, there are fears that the ban will fuel a black market.

Disposable vapes should be banned to protect children, UK paediatricians say: Single-use e-cigarettes growing in popularity among young people despite unknown health effects and environmental impact »

Why am I not surprised? Governments have created this problem with their relentless war on tobacco and smoking. One can but shake one’s head. – © Mark Alexander

Ministers Face Pressure to Ban Single-use Vapes amid Rising Popularity among Children in UK

THE GUARDIAN: As many as 15% of 11- to 15-year-olds use vapes, experts suggest, with products often packaged in bright colours

The relatively short history of e-cigarettes means there is minimal knowledge about long-term health effects. Photograph: Peter Dazeley/Alamy
Ministers are facing mounting pressure to impose an outright ban on single-use vapes, amid concern about their rising popularity among children and wider worries that officials have minimal grip over a fast-moving sector.

While it is illegal to sell e-cigarettes to under-18s, some experts suggest as many as 15% of 11- to 15-year-olds use vapes, with Rishi Sunak saying this week he was worried that his daughters could be “seduced” by a heavily flavoured product often packaged in bright colours. » | Peter Walker, Deputy political editor | Friday, May 26, 2023

This just goes to prove that the government’s relentless war on smoking is having a deleterious effect on children!

It would have been far better and more sensible if successive governments had simply used infomercials to make the public aware of the dangers of smoking and let the people decide for themselves whether they wish to smoke or not. In fact, that was the original strategy of governments to reduce smoking rates anyway; and, it must be said, that strategy was effective. It brought smoking rates right down over a period of years.

However, governments weren’t satisfied with this softly-softly approach. They have been determined to stub out the smoking of tobacco altogether which, of course, they will never be able to do.

The result has been that they have encouraged people to vape instead. The dangers of vaping are not yet well-understood. But the people in government have pushed ahead with this silly and ridiculous policy anyway.

At first, it was hoped that vaping would be used as a way of transitioning from smoking tobacco to not smoking at all. But it hasn’t turned out that way. Rather, vaping has become in itself a source of kicks for many people, including children. Vapes in multifarious flavours and forms have become particularly attractive even to young children, something which conventional cigarettes never were. The smell and taste of tobacco for children is often very off-putting. It certainly was for me as a child. As a child, I hated being around anyone who smoked cigarettes.

When I studied economics back in the day, one of the very first lessons we were taught was this: Governments should avoid at all costs distorting the market of any product, because the distortions caused by excessive taxes, etc, will often produce far more deleterious results than the use of the product the government is trying to stamp out. Clearly, our politicians haven’t learnt this lesson.

The moral of the story is quite simple: Stop interfering in the marketplace and stop interfering in the lives of the people. Let the people decide what they wish to do for enjoyment. Moreover, one shouldn’t be surprised that children are attracted to vaping when they are available in so many attractive flavours such as apricot, peach, blackcurrant, orange, etc. Make them taste of tobacco and most chidren will run far, far away from them! – © Mark Alexander

Australien: Verkauf von E-Zigaretten nur noch in Apotheken

May 2, 2023 | Australien hat am Dienstag die Regeln zum Verkauf und Nutzen von E-Zigaretten verschärft: Der Verkauf soll nur noch in Apotheken erfolgen und nicht mehr an Jugendliche gestattet sein. © REUTERS, DPA

READ IN ENGLISH:

Australia Aims to ‘Stamp Out’ Vaping With Sweeping Regulations: The proposal would ban all single-use, disposable vapes, halt the importation of nonprescription vapes and restrict certain flavors, colors and ingredients. »

Chris Snowden on the Ever-growing Nanny State | Reupload

May 31, 2021 | Gary sits down with Christopher Snowdon, author of the Nanny State Index. They discuss vaping; smoking; sugar taxes; Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) for alcohol; the drive towards increased nanny statism coming from NGOs; & what consumers can do to fight back.