The intrinsic link between youth vaping and illegal vape products: Some action, but is it enough?

The news announced last month from the UK Government regarding the sale of nicotine-free vape and illegal vape products has been received very well by the wider industry, however where is the action?

The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) , has been calling for many of these steps for over 12 months, indeed many of the recommendations in the announcement have been called for in the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations (TRPR), A Blueprint for Better Regulation.

It is long overdue that proactive steps are taken to hold rogue retailers to account and to close down the illegal vape market, the latter presenting the greatest threat to the health of all consumers (particularly young people) and which is swindling millions of pounds of VAT and duty away from Government coffers. Do not underestimate the size of the illegal vape market, it is in my opinion, equal to if not larger than the regulated vape market. If you don't believe me, visit almost any independent corner shop in the UK and ask if they have any larger puff devices, if they are not already on display!

The regulated legal #vape industry is very clear that the life-changing and life-saving vape products they market are not for children. However, on the back of COVID and a rise in the cost of living, it is easy to see why some retailers are content to sell vape products to children particularly when their profit on return can be as high as 60%, and the risk of enforcement action is close to zero. As I have stated before, the greatest deterrent to doing something wrong is a high probability of being caught!

It is worrying, however, that the announcement has targeted the colour of the products as being child-appealing when colour exists in millions of other consumer products which are not automatically tagged as child-appealing. I do, however, accept that there is no tangible reason that products could be more pallid in appearance. I just don't see how that would have a significant impact. The addition of LED lights and glow-in-the-dark products is, however, another matter, and I do see these products as directly child-appealing.

I very much welcome the banning of nicotine-free products to those under 18. Indeed, I would welcome these products being directly regulated as part of the TRPR so that they may be subjected to the same testing and analytical standards as nicotine-containing vape products. It is nonsensical that nicotine-free products do not fall under the same regulations. Please, can someone in government listen and include these products in the UK regulations?

When reviewing the fines for selling illicit/illegal vape products, I would like enforcement officers in the UK to consider that retailers have two functional ways of checking if a product has achieved "submitted notified" status (the first step in compliance) with the MHRA, by accessing the MHRA list directly at https://cms.mhra.gov.uk/ecig-new or via Vapeclick https://vape-click.com/ . Retailers are aware of what a complaint product is, and they should no longer be afforded ignorance as a quasi-exemption from their clear criminal liability.

The statement "to allow local Trading Standards to issue on-the-spot fines and fixed penalty notices more easily" is very welcome. Please action this now.

In my opinion, no inhalable vape product should be allowed to be sold unless it has completed the steps prescribed by the UK regulations and certainly not to anybody under the age of 18.

The time for action is now. Banning disposable products outright will feed into the collective dirty hands of the illegal, untested, oversized vape market and create a greater risk to the consumer.