(Dulwich and West Norwood)
(Lab)
I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision about
the branding, promotion and advertising of electronic cigarettes,
for the purpose of preventing electronic cigarettes from being
marketed in a way which appeals to children; and for connected
purposes.
We are seeing a rapid and very concerning increase in underage
vaping. A recent study by Action on Smoking and Health found that
in the past three years the number of children taking part in
experimental vaping has increased by 50%. One in five 11 to
15-year-olds in England used vapes in 2021, a figure that is
likely to be significantly higher now. Alongside this has come
significant growth in the awareness of e-cigarette promotions,
with 85% of children now conscious of e-cigarette marketing
either in shops or online.
We can see how this has happened. In every single one of the
constituencies we represent, on high streets and in town centres
up and down the country, there are vaping shops where the shelves
and window displays are filled with brightly coloured packaging
and products. The packaging mimics popular brands, with flavours
of sweets like gummy bears, Skittles and tutti-frutti, or soft
drinks like cherry cola, or emblazoned with images of cartoon
characters. The problem is just as widespread online, with vapes
being openly promoted to children on social media sites, drawing
them into experimental vaping so that they become addicted to
nicotine. The marketing strategy is clear to see: the products
are designed to be attractive to children, to draw them in when
they are very young so that they will become addicted to vaping
and then become long-term customers.
Vaping has shifted from a smoking cessation tool to a
recreational activity in its own right. It is driven by the
rapacious desire of tobacco companies—which fund many of the
largest e-cigarette suppliers—to keep making a profit from the
highly addictive substance of nicotine.
There is evidence that the approach is working for the companies
profiting from vapes, with new data from the Office for National
Statistics this week showing that the increase in children and
young people vaping is already feeding through into a dramatic
increase in young adults vaping, with a particularly sharp
increase in the number of young women using vapes.
The important role of vaping in smoking cessation has led to a
widespread perception that it is a harmless activity, rather than
a less harmful activity than smoking. It is not harmless. Last
year, 40 children were admitted to hospital for suspected
vaping-related disorders. Young people using e-cigarettes are
twice as likely to suffer from a chronic cough than non-users.
There are reports that nicotine dependency contributes to
cognitive and attention deficit conditions and worsens mood
disorders.
Concerns about vaping are being widely raised by teachers and
parents in a way that was not the case just a couple of years
ago. Schools are installing heat sensors
in addition to smoke detectors in school toilets, taking steps to
stop children constantly leaving the classroom to vape, and
managing the impacts of addiction to nicotine on the mood and
concentration levels of their students.
The sale of e-cigarettes to under-18s is already illegal, but the
dramatic increase in the number of young people vaping shows that
the current legislation is completely ineffective, so we must
learn from the substantive evidence on what worked in reducing
smoking rates among children. In 1982, when smoking rates among
children first started being monitored in England, one in five
children were current smokers—the same as the proportion of 11 to
15-year-olds now vaping. Eighteen years later, despite
substantial advertising campaigns to educate young people on the
dangers of smoking, the proportion was exactly the same. That was
not because children were not educated about the dangers, but
because some adolescents are more susceptible to taking
risks.
Between 2000 and 2021, smoking rates among children fell from 19%
to just 3%—not because of better education or enforcement of the
existing prohibition on the sale of cigarettes to children, but
because the regulatory framework during that time ratcheted up
year by year. Under the last Labour Government, all point-of-sale
advertising and display of tobacco was prohibited. A
comprehensive anti-smuggling strategy was implemented by HMRC and
UK Border Force, which reduced sales of illicit tobacco, and
cigarettes were put in standardised packaging with all the
brightly coloured glamourised imagery removed.
What is true for the strategy to tackle smoking is true for the
challenge of vaping. Without much tougher regulation, we will not
succeed in driving down vaping among children and young people.
Regulations on packaging, advertising and labelling are
essential. It is disappointing that the Government refused to
support the amendment to the Health and Care Bill tabled by my
hon. Friend the Member for City of Durham () in November 2021, which
would have prohibited branding that appeals to children on
packaging. The cross-party Health and Social Care Committee wrote
to the Secretary of State in July stating:
“Decisive action is needed from both Government and industry to
protect children from the harmful effects of vaping.”
An Opposition day debate in July also served to demonstrate the
high level of cross-party consensus on this issue, yet the
Government have still not announced any action to address it.
A series of important and complex issues relating to
e-cigarettes, in addition to their impacts on children, also
require Government attention. They include the harmful impact of
disposable vapes as a source of plastic pollution and the fire
hazard caused by the presence of batteries within the vape
casing. There is also the alarming rise in the number of 18 to
25-year-olds who have never been smokers using e-cigarettes as a
recreational activity in their own right. That also requires
urgent attention. I hope the Government will come forward with a
wider strategy to address these issues and that we will be able
to scrutinise them in this House, but there can be no
disagreement that urgent action is needed right now to stop the
sale of vapes to children and to halt the number of children who
are becoming addicted to nicotine.
No one wants to undermine the vital role of e-cigarettes in
smoking cessation—smoking remains far more harmful than vaping
and a major threat to health—but brightly coloured branding,
advertising, names and imagery specifically designed to make
vaping products attractive to children are not remotely necessary
for vapes to be readily available to those who can benefit from
vaping as a smoking cessation tool. My Bill is designed to
deliver rapid action on an issue on which there is broad
consensus and that is presenting itself with increasing urgency
in families, schools and communities right across the
country.
My Bill would ban e-cigarettes from being advertised, branded and
packaged to appeal directly to children, including online. We
know this will work, because the same approach was so effective
in reducing smoking in children. We can act now to stop the harms
of nicotine addiction to the physical and mental health of
children and young people. I hope that the Government will choose
to support this Bill and take the action needed to protect
children’s health. I commend it to the House.
Question put and agreed to.
Ordered,That , , , , , Mrs , , , , , and present the Bill.
accordingly presented the
Bill.
Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 24
November, and to be printed (Bill 358).
