The World Health Organization wants to ban all eCigarette vaping indoors and the law may come to the UK.
In a report this week, the health body believes the devices do not help people quit and they say they will not listen to this line of reasoning. They will not listen to any claims stating that eCigarettes help quit smoking until there is ‘firm evidence to support this’.
There main argument is that children are using eCigarettes, which has no bearing on the statement ‘eCigarettes help quit smoking’. Vvapour agree that children should not be smoking eCigarettes at all and they shouldn’t be advertised too. In 2016, regulations will come in to affect to stop vendors selling electronic cigarettes to under 18s which we agree with, and needs to be done. Although all eCigarette shops we have come across do not sell to children, there is no law stopping them. E-Cigs are a fairly new product so no laws or regulations are present at the moment, but saying eCigarettes do not help smokers quit is just absurd. all the staff and customers at Vvapour have quit using the devices. Some smoke 40 a day for 20 years, and now they don’t smoke at all. Nicotine patches, gum, doctors advice have all failed in the past, but the ecig has seemed victorious.
No more vape friendly venues!
According to the World Health Organisation, legal steps need to ban the use of e-cigarettes indoors, as well as in public spaces and also in the work place. Which will mean a ban from pubs, a ban from work cars and vans (even if you are on your own in the work vehicle), and a ban from all town centres and parks.
The health experts also insist on a ban on advertisements that could encourage children and non-smokers to use the devices. Which in itself might be a good idea, but who decides what is classed as advertising to children or not. In the end this will cause all eCig advertising to stop.
They also state fruit, candy or alcoholic-drink style eLiquid flavours should be banned too, which means all your decent flavours of eLiquid will vanish. They say these fruit flavours are encouraging children to start smoking, but Vvapour sell to O.A.Ps who love the ‘sweet tooth’ flavours, and with this ban, all they will have left is bland, cigarette flavoured eLiquid which only a handful of vapers actually enjoy vaping.
We can see the laws coming into affect may have only one result, pushing smokers and children back to regular cigarettes that are more harmful to both the atmosphere and to health.
On the positive side some organisations, and parts of the government, actually seem to be campaigning for realistic regulations we all want to see introduced, like product standards laws for devices and eliquids to stop dodgy, counterfeit and dangerous products coming to market, and also regulations to ban the sale to minors.
Other researchers and other studies also suggest “tough regulations may prevent smokers having access to products that are potentially less harmful than conventional cigarettes.”
A spokesman for the British American Tobacco company said: “We have always said that given nicotine is addictive, minimum age laws of 18 for the sale of e-cigarettes should be introduced.
“However, if overly restrictive regulations are introduced hampering innovation or adult usage, then this could simply stifle the growth of new products and prevent smokers from being aware of and having access to them – this can only be bad thing for public health.”
She added: “Smoking kills 100,000 people in the UK alone”.
“Smokers who switch to using electronic cigarettes in whole or in part are likely to substantially reduce their health risks”.
“Although we cannot be sure that electronic cigarettes are completely safe, as the WHO acknowledges, they are considerably less harmful than smoking tobacco and research suggests that they are already helping smokers to quit.”
A UK Department of Health spokeswoman said: “More and more people are using e-cigarettes and we want to make sure they are properly regulated so we can be sure of their safety.”
“We have already set out our intention to change the law to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to children under 18”.
“The UK has an existing licensing system for higher strength products and those that claim to help people quit”.
“We are also bringing in new European rules to cover lower strength products which will ban most advertising, limit nicotine levels and set standards for ingredients, labelling and packaging.”
The WHO’s recommendations were published and these new global guidelines could be agreed during the October meeting this year, so keep your ears open. The world of vaper’s you know today may be changed forever.
(source: BBC news)
Yes the industry needs to be regulated for the sake of peoples safety if nothing else.
But an industry still in its infancy and still under the ever watchful eye of the tobacco giants have a formidable task ahead.
Its a battle between money and common sense, lets hope that common sense prevails.
I do not smoke or vape and yes I am tempted by the lure of shiny new gadgets but as I am aware that most contain nicotine which is addictive, I don’t do it yes I realise I could just use 0mg juice, but the desire to start is not that great. so banning advertising is pointless especially if it is unlawful to buy or use under the age of 18. and banning fruit or sweet flavours, really, this all smells of tobacco money to me.
Fortunately we are 8 years into vaping and its here to stay.
According to the W.H.O. Vaping or Ecigs do not help people to give up smoking. Why then have I not touched a cigarette for nearly two years since I Started Vaping? Perhaps in their infinite wisdom they can provide me with an answer.
Exactly.