E-cigarettes/Vaping Policies
NICHS continues to support measures designed to decrease the level of smoking in the community, including the continued use of the ‘escalator’ with regard to the level of taxation on tobacco. We are also increasingly concerned about the use of vapes (e-cigarettes). NICHS believes there is increasing evidence about cardiac and respiratory illness being linked to vaping and we are particularly concerned about the rapid rise in the number of young people using vapes.
In general, NICHS believes that vapes should only be used by existing smokers as a short-term measure to assist smokers break their addiction. Specifically, they should only be used over a twelve-week period as part of recognised behavioural change programme.
Largely we concur with the views of the 4 Chief Medical Officers of the UK summed up the following remark by Professor sir Chris Whitty, the CMO for England:
“The key points about vaping (e-cigarettes) can be easily summarised. If you smoke, vaping is much safer; if you don’t smoke, don’t vape; marketing vapes to children is utterly unacceptable.”
NICHS welcome recent government moves to explore restricting the advertising of vapes to young people under 18, however, we believe in light of the known dangers of tobacco, and the increasing concerns about vapes, the minimum age of purchase for tobacco and for vapes containing nicotine should be raised to 21. This would be significant boost in the moves towards a smoke free society and would also provide leadership for school seeking to arrest the spread of vaping amongst their pupils (i.e., no one at school would be legally able to purchase either product).
To quote Chris Whitty further with regard to vaping.
“We do not know the long-term effects of many vape ingredients and companies deliberately inducing nicotine addiction in others to maximise profits is not in the interests of the person being addicted. Non-smokers should therefore be encouraged not to start vaping, and in particular not to use vapes containing ingredients such as nicotine, the main aim of which is to addict them.”
We are delighted that the Northern Ireland Assembly has agreed to adopt the Tobacco and Vapes Bill 2024 for Northern Ireland. This bill will:
- Make it illegal to sell tobacco products to children born on or after 1 January 2009. This means the ‘legal age of sale’ will increase by one year, every year, until no one can legally buy these products.
- Restrict how vapes and other consumer nicotine products (such as nicotine pouches) are branded and advertised. This will make sure these products are not appealing to children and young people.
- Place stricter rules on where people can smoke and vape in public. This will help people with lung conditions who are triggered by other people smoking and vaping near them.
- Create a licensing scheme for retailers that sell tobacco, vapes and other nicotine products. This will make sure that retailers are following the new rules and will help the government enforce these new laws.
We, at NICHS, want to see further action by:
- The age at which individuals can buy e-cigarettes (vapes) increased to 21 years.
- An increase of a year, every year, to the age at which individuals can buy these products.
- Increase in enforcement of restrictions on sale e-cigarettes, including limiting where they can be sold.
- An introduction of larger fines and on the spot fines, to those retailers who break the law.
Smoking
Thankfully the prevalence of smoking has declined markedly across the UK including NI, although significant inequalities exist with areas of social deprivation still experiencing prevalence rates of around 30% amongst adults.
Vaping
(The data is taken from an annual survey, Smokefree GB, carried out for ASH by YouGov in Spring each year).
The proportion of the adult population using e-cigarettes has increased this year to 8.3%, the highest rate ever, amounting to 4.3 million people in Great Britain.
In 2024, the 18% of 11–17-year-olds who have tried vaping amounts to around 980,000 children. The proportion of never smokers who have tried vaping has declined from 11.5% in 2023 to 8.7% in 2024. However, as the vast majority of children don’t smoke, never smokers make up four in ten (39%) children aged 11-17 who have ever tried vaping. In 2024, 7.2% (390,000 children aged 11-17) currently vaped compared to 5.1% (280,000 children) who currently smoked.
Disposable Vapes
We welcome The Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024. These Regulations prohibit the supply, whether by sale or otherwise, in the course of business of single-use vapes and came into operation on 1 June 2025.
NICHS very much welcome this, particularly given the explosion in vaping amongst young people in recent years.
