Surge in children gripped by vaping

Doctors demand restrictions to curb addiction

E-CIGarETTES should be sold in plain packaging and advertising restricted to combat a ‘disturbing’ rise in use among children, leading doctors said yesterday.

almost one in ten 11 to 15- year- olds now vape, with the rate soaring by 50 per cent in three years, official figures reveal.

The survey of 9,289 pupils in England – conducted last year – found 9 per cent of children aged 11 to 15 vape regularly or occasionally, which is up from 6 per cent in 2018, when the poll was last carried out.

The largest rise has been among teenage girls, with 21 per cent of female 15-yearolds now vaping compared with 10 per cent in 2018.

The number vaping is triple the number who smoke cigarettes. Cigarette smoking among all 11 to 15-year-olds fell over the same period from 5 per cent to 3 per cent.

E-cigarettes are promoted by UK health officials and industry as a safer alternative to tobacco and an aid to help adults quit smoking. But studies have linked them to heart and lung disease.

Dr Mike McKean, vice president of the royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said disposable e-cigarettes are easily available in shops. He called for the Government to introduce plain packaging of e-cigarettes and nicotine and non-nicotine e-liquids packs and to tighten advertising restrictions ‘to ensure vaping products are only advertised as a smoking reduction aid rather than a fun and colourful lifestyle product’.

‘I am deeply disturbed in the rise of children and young people picking up e- cigarettes,’ he said. ‘If action is not taken soon, we run the risk of having generations of children addicted to nicotine.’

John Dunne, director general of trade body the UK Vaping Industry association, called for £10,000 fines for retailers caught selling e-cigarettes to children. The legal age for buying e-cigarettes is 18 in the UK.