Should Flavoured Vapes Be Banned?What would happen if the UK banned flavoured vapes?-Khongtu Review

Disposables are in the media crosshairs once again. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) are recommending that they should be banned. Youth vaping is seen as an epidemic and the bright colours, marketing and flavours are to blame. Scotland are already discussing a total ban on disposables that could be announced later this week. But, should flavoured vapes be banned altogether?

Bans Don’t Stop Vaping

Total bans are usually enacted with the best intentions by governments that have the opinion that e-cigs are dangerous. Let’s take a look at some countries that have outlawed flavours or vaping as a whole, and what were the results.

Singapore

Singapore is a prime example of how bans don’t work. In this country it’s illegal to buy, carry and vape an e-cig. But, it’s not the only thing that’s strangely against the law. You also can’t fly certain kinds of kite, chew gum or feed pigeons.

You’d think that completely banning vapes would lead to nobody using them, right? Well, the opposite is actually true. The Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health discovered that vaping has only grown in popularity, especially among young adults.

USA

In February 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned many flavoured liquids and many US states embraced it. But, it didn’t discourage vapers.

Research conducted by the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) revealed that less than 5% of users quit e-cigarettes because of the ban. Instead, these vapers either sourced their liquids from states that didn’t ban them, switched to allowed flavours or returned to smoking.

Australia

In October 2021, Australia put in to place a prescription only model to regulate vaping. What this meant was that users needed to have a prescription from their doctor in order to import or buy nicotine containing liquids.

This method failed miserably, with many Aussie vapers importing their liquids anyway and retailers not enforcing the prescription requirement. It also created a huge vaping black market.

Australia, instead of learning from their mistakes, are choosing to double down on this idea. There are plans to ban all e-liquids apart from tobacco and menthol. These flavours will also only be able to be bought from a pharmacy with a prescription.

Black Markets and Illegal Vapes

The main issue with outright bans is that it drives the black market to new levels. There are already illegal devices being sold in the UK and that is only going to increase if bans are put into place, unless the importation of these vapes is more heavily enforced. The more strict that customs have to become, the longer vapers are going to have to wait for products that they need to remain smoke free.

Also, there’s the danger of black market vapes not being compliant with TRPR regulations. Recent testing was done on some of these illegal vapes. There were extremely high levels of toxic metals found in them, which poses significant risk for vapers. At least if flavours and disposables are regulated, the dangers are minimised.

A Return to Smoking

For law abiding vapers, a flavour ban would be devastating. In a study it was found that 83% of users quit smoking thanks to flavoured e-liquids. More worryingly, it also revealed that 1/3 would return to using cigarettes if these juices were made illegal. That’s around 1.5 million people returning to tobacco products.

This brings with it all of the health problems related to smoking and would cripple the UK government’s ‘smoke free 2030’ plans.

Should Flavoured Vapes Be Banned?

Absolutely not. Legal vapes and flavoured e-liquids aren’t the problem. The main issue is illegal devices being imported and the sales of e-cigs to underage users. Flavours help adult smokers make a healthier transition to vaping and encourage smoking cessation. What should be enforced is stricter importation, higher fines for immoral retailers and the possibility of limiting e-cig sales to licensed outlets.

To learn more see this article: ‘Youth Vaping: Illegal E-cigs In The Hands Of Children‘