Opinion: 'Government and industry action needed to tackle children vaping in Peterborough', says Paul Bristow MP

​​The battle against smoking continues to be a pressing concern across the UK and, indeed, in Peterborough.

We have made significant strides over the past couple of decades, and the number of people who smoke is far less now than when I was growing up.

I am a believer in individual freedoms and would never call for an outright ban on smoking or tell someone how to live their lives.

Nevertheless, everyone should be aware of the risks of smoking, and support needs to be available for people who want to quit.

Previous approaches to curb smoking have been to increase taxes on tobacco products, enforce packaging requirements and ban advertisements.

An alternative to these has risen in the last decade or so: Vaping.

Many studies have concluded that vaping is far less harmful than smoking a cigarette.

The Royal College of Physicians, for example, has stated that the hazards from vaping are 95% less harmful than a traditional cigarette.

Although this innovative alternative to smoking is harm reducing, it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t ensure they meet high standards and that they stay out of the hands of children.

As a member of the Health and Social Care Select Committee in Parliament, I have heard evidence on the effects vaping can have on children and the need to protect them from becoming addicted to vaping at a young age.

Some of the calls the committee has made to the government include:

- Consider introducing restrictions on packaging and marketing of vapes in line with those that apply to tobacco products.

- Review resources and enforcement powers of trading standards to prevent vapes being sold to children.

Assess the influence of a proposed excise tax on disposable vapes on use among children and smokers on lower incomes.

This could also help to protect against imports of illegal products - which the Committee heard can contain chemicals including hydraulic oil and antifreeze.

The fact that young children are being sold vape products is appalling.

The vast majority of shops would never sell cigarettes or tobacco to a child, so why should vapes be any different?

We are now seeing a rise in young people starting to vape who might never have smoked in the first place.

There are hundreds of various coloured and flavoured vapes available, and disposable vapes appear to be the biggest problem among young people and children.

There needs to be decisive action from the government and the vaping industry to tackle the rise in children using these products.

I have received emails from concerned parents about the use of these in schools and other settings and I myself see young people using these products in Peterborough.

Vaping can be a positive substitute to smoking for society, however, like anything, we need to ensure it is correctly monitored and we protect people, especially children, from its harmful effects.

The Health and Social Care Select Committee is starting an inquiry on vaping, let me know your thoughts by using this link: https://www.paulbristow.org.uk/form/vaping-survey.