eCig uses in Wales have been having a tough time of late and it seems that isn’t going to ease up anytime soon with Public Health Wales weighing in on the subject with their opinions on eLiquid flavours.
Public Health Wales has stated:
“Confectionary-like flavours of e-liquid should not be permitted, in order to reduce the appeal of vaping to children and young people.”
They also went onto state “You can buy bubblegum, candy floss, jam doughnut flavour e-cigarettes and they are only aimed at one audience – and that’s about recruiting children.”
Claiming the purpose of different flavours is aimed at marketing toward minors when it is simply to provide people trying to quick smoking with more tasteful options than to only have tobacco flavoured alternatives to cigarettes. While many people do find tobacco flavour to help and be their favourite, for the majority of users this isn’t the case with fruity flavours topping the charts.
For a lot of people weaning themselves away from the familiarity of the tobacco flavour is what helps them finally move on for good. That flavour can be the trigger in your memory that is associated with the addiction and it is important to provide users non-tobacco flavoured alternatives for this reason.
If the Welsh government ban flavours they will make it harder for vapers to quit traditional smoking for good and inadvertently create a black market at the same time. In no time people would be travelling from Wales to England to buy their non-tobacco flavoured eliquids creating a lot of work for the police and other authorities and wasting a heap of tax payer’s money.
Contrary to the recurring propaganda online, plenty of surveys have shown that liquid flavours are not leading to addiction in children which could be for a variety of reasons but often being attributed to the increase in education and the fact eCigs may be less addictive than cigarettes themselves as they are not as effective at administering the nicotine.
What can you do? If you live in Wales, vape and are concerned about the possibilities of such regulation and change in the law surrounding eCigs & eLiquid then lobby your local MP and let them know where you stand on the issue with a professional, polite and informed letter or email.