Call to crackdown on the sale of vapes to underage children across Hampshire

Although it is illegal to sell vapes to children under the age of 18, some stores continue to do so, with concerns now being raised about the impact on children’s health.

At a full meeting of Hampshire County Council meeting on Thursday (July 21), members unanimously backed a motion calling for a framework to educate students, parents and teachers about the risks, health consequences and legal implications of underage vaping across the council’s area which includes the whole of Hampshire – excluding Portsmouth and Southampton. The motion, presented by councillor Bill Withers, also called for further enforcement of underage sales restrictions at retail outlets.

Cllr Lesley Meenaghan asked whether the county council could request trading standards to carry out test purchase operations and target businesses selling vapes to underage children.

“When I was a police officer, test purchasing for alcohol and cigarettes was a very effective tool we would use going into businesses that were selling those cigarettes”, Cllr Meenaghan said.

“Can we establish from our standards that they have caught on to the current trend and are doing test purchase operations targeting businesses who are selling disposable vapes to our young people?”

Councillor Liz Fairhurst, Hampshire County Council’s cabinet lead member for adult social care and public health, said: “The Trading Standards team are all over those. They will visit certain areas where we know the shops are selling to underage people.”

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Cllr Peter Chegwyn said: “Lesley made a valuable point. We have to enforce it. Trading standards have the power; we have the power to use test purchases as we have and still to this day; we need to use it with vaping as well because kids do go into the shops and get the products far too easily.

“When children once they take up smoking, they are hooked for life. No one knows the long-term effects of vaping, but there is increased evidence that it is just as dangerous as smoking cigarettes.

“We need to stop children smoking in the first place or vaping, and the best way to do that, apart from enforcing, is to make it unattractive and uncool.

“We have the role; we need to use young people to help other young people because if we don’t, in a few years, we are going to have a whole new generation hooked on vaping and nicotine products.”

The director of health for Hampshire County Council, Simon Bryant, has recently sent a letter to schools warning them about the effects that vaping may have on children and young adults. Possible health effects of vaping include “headaches, coughing, insomnia, worsening of asthma symptoms, and throat and mouth irritation”, which could have “negative impacts on developing brains”.

A recent survey across secondary schools and colleges in Hampshire shows a significant increase in the percentage of young people both experimenting with and using vapes. The survey shows that youth experimentation with vapes increases from four per cent in year 7 to 53 per cent in year 13. Similarly, vape use increased from seven per cent in year 10 to 18 per cent in year 13.

Last week the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils in England and Wales, urged the central government to ban the sale and manufacture of single-use vapes by 2024. LGA urged the ban to come into effect immediately as they forecast that the prohibition that the UAE and France impose for disposable vapes in 2026 and by December 2023, respectively, will flood the UK.