LONDON — Stacks of brightly colored disposable e-cigarettes, often looming over dissimilar candy displays featuring flavors like cotton candy, ice and green melon, have become a common sight in grocery stores in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

But here they are, about to leave.

The UK is moving to ban disposable e-cigarettes from next summer; This is part of a broader policy move that will also prevent anyone currently 15 or younger from purchasing tobacco products, even when they become adults. The aim is to create what the government calls a “smoke-free UK”, given that smoking kills around 80,000 people across the country every year.

The UK is targeting disposable e-cigarettes because the colourful, cheap and flavored products are blamed for the rise in vaping consumption among young adults and teenagers in recent years. Electronic cigarettes that can be refilled with new cartridges or tanks will still be available.

“This government is taking bold steps to create the first generation of non-smokers (and) stop children becoming addicted to nicotine through vaping,” Health Minister Wes Streeting said in a statement introducing the plans. The government’s proposals are currently being considered in Parliament, where Labor has a large majority.

The phase-out of disposable e-cigarettes is a stronger action than what has been seen in the US; Thousands of e-cigarettes are widely available here, although the vast majority are technically illegal because they have not received the regulatory clearance that any e-cigarette to be purchased must have. to have This is an example of how the two countries differ in their approaches to e-cigarettes and their views on the threats and potential benefits that accompany the products.

And it’s not like the UK has always been so hostile to e-cigarettes.

Much of the messaging about e-cigarettes in the US focuses on the dangers posed by e-cigarettes; For example, warning campaigns are being carried out about the chemicals they contain. But in the UK, health officials have emphasized that e-cigarettes are a safer nicotine option than cigarettes and encouraged smokers to switch to vaping as a way to reduce health risks. Previous Conservative government Launched the “Change to Stop” campaign A program that offers e-cigarettes to smokers along with behavioral coaching.

Indeed, despite research showing that many people, including e-cigarette users, think e-cigarettes are as harmful or even more dangerous than cigarettes, scientific reviews have shown that e-cigarettes are safer than smoking; cigarette. Experts say e-cigarette use in the UK is contributing to reducing smoking levels.

E-cigarettes carry risks, and because e-cigarettes are relatively new, the long-term health effects of the chemicals in the products are not fully understood. Many products also carry high levels of nicotine, increasing the potential for addiction. But they contain much lower levels of some carcinogenic substances, and a recent clinical study found that e-cigarettes as effective as Like Chantix helps smokers quit smoking. (Researchers who are more skeptical about encouraging people to switch to e-cigarettes note that some people do not quit smoking completely after they start vaping, which means they are exposing themselves to the harms of both products.)

But while e-cigarettes may provide smokers with a way out of more toxic cigarettes, the advent of disposables in the UK has appeared to turn some people who would not have smoked in the first place towards nicotine use, and has also attracted young people in particular. experts say.

“The advice for years in this country has been that if you smoke you can significantly improve your health by switching to e-cigarettes, but if you don’t smoke you shouldn’t vape,” said Sarah Jackson, the university’s chief research officer. College London Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group. “And I think we were doing very well with that approach until recently.”

E-cigarettes have been used for years primarily as a quitting tool or by former smokers who have relapsed into using nicotine, Jackson said. Young people perceived them as unpleasant.

“And that really changed with disposables,” Jackson said.

Disposables began to take off around 2020, and in response vaping rates among young adults and children began to rise, but have plateaued over the past few years.

The rate of regular electronic cigarette users among young people aged 11-17 grew up From 4.1% in 2020 to 7.0% in 2022, Roughly where did he stay? Since then, according to the advocacy group Action on Smoking and Health. Overall, one in four people aged 11 to 15 has tried electronic cigarettes. According to the National Health Service. Legally, people must be 18 to buy e-cigarettes containing nicotine, but age-based restrictions are rarely enforced, experts say.

Among young adults, The prevalence of electronic cigarettes has increased From around 10% at the beginning of 2021 to almost 30% in May 2023, with more people Someone who has never smoked starts smoking electronic cigarettes. In fact, following the rise in popularity of disposable e-cigarettes, historic declines in nicotine use in the UK have generally begun to reverse.

“E-cigarettes are probably pushing some young people away from starting to smoke, which is a good thing because vaping is much less harmful to you,” Jackson said. “But for other teens, vaping means starting them on nicotine when they wouldn’t normally smoke.”

In outlining its plan to ban disposable e-cigarettes, the government suggested it could prevent young people from developing a nicotine habit, as well as making an environmental case, citing estimates that 5 million disposable e-cigarettes are thrown away or thrown away every week. England

While experts largely praised the government’s proposals on tobacco products, some said policymakers should not impose new barriers to smokers who might switch to e-cigarettes. They say the appeal and availability of refillable e-cigarettes for smokers must be maintained. They also worry about creating the false impression that e-cigarettes are so dangerous that some should be banned while cigarettes continue to be sold.

Caitlin Notley, professor of addiction sciences at the University of East Anglia, said on the government’s decision: “We need to focus on the huge health damage caused by tobacco smoking and prevent people from turning to less harmful alternatives such as electronic cigarettes.” recommendations were announced. “Policies to regulate products and limit marketing to avoid appeal to children are important, but as we tighten regulations we should not make it harder for adult smokers to access products with reduced harmful effects; because this can unintentionally prolong or even increase the level of tobacco smoking. ”

The e-cigarette lobby has adopted a similar message: John Dunne, chief executive of the UK Electronic Cigarette Industry Association, said. saying The accessibility and convenience of disposable e-cigarettes “especially among low-income groups who are the most common smokers should not be forgotten and underscore the careful balancing act required.” The industry has also warned that the government’s proposals could lead to an increase in the number of e-cigarettes imported from the black market.

Experts say the U.K.’s embrace of e-cigarettes as a safer—though not entirely safe—option for smokers reflects the country’s greater willingness, compared to the U.S., to implement harm-reduction strategies, such as syringe exchange programs when HIV emerges. In the United States, “drug harm reduction has had a more controversial policy history,” according to a group of experts I wrote in a comparison Vaping policies in the US, UK and Australia. This history dates back to the United States’ first approach to e-cigarettes.

“Although e-cigarettes were a relatively new development, they were already entering a very different context,” said social historian Virginia Berridge of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In the United Kingdom, “the idea of ​​nicotine addiction is considered a lesser evil than the harm caused by smoking.”

The rise in teen vaping in the US preceded the increase in the UK by several years and is at least partly blamed on the advent of Juul and its flavored cartridges. Many children who started vaping later switched to disposable products when they reached the market.

However while more than a quarter While the proportion of high school students in the U.S. reported vaping in 2019, the rate has declined steadily since then in 2019. 7.8% this year. The decline in teen vaping in the U.S. has been attributed to campaigns promoting the dangers of vaping, as well as state and city bans on flavored e-cigarettes — but flavored e-cigarettes, STAT reports it was still easy to find in these places.

As young people’s use of electronic cigarettes decreases, The US Food and Drug Administration gave a signal Greater acceptance of the use of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool. While the FDA overall has approved nearly three dozen tobacco- and menthol-flavored e-cigarette products and devices for sale in the U.S. as alternatives to cigarettes, the agency, along with U.S. law enforcement, aims to: take more action against illegal electronic cigarettes.

Some advocates in the US have argued that the country should follow the UK in banning disposables.

“Disposable products are available in an incredible variety of flavors that kids want, and that’s driving youth use,” said Eric Lindblom, a former FDA tobacco advisor and a senior fellow at Georgetown University Law Center. “It’s a much smaller price barrier for kids to get these; They are much cheaper than cartridge or tank ones. “And if you throw away all disposable items, then if a bailiff or customs officer sees something disposable they can immediately confiscate it.”

“This is the smartest and most logical step to take,” he said.

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