The marketing of e-cigarette and vaping products to younger cohorts has raised fears that the tobacco industry is attempting to “create a new generation of nicotine-addicted young people,” according to a consultant.
Prof Des Cox, a consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine at CHI Crumlin, said “tobacco control legislation needs to be put back firmly on the map in Ireland” in order to avoid the long-term implications of using nicotine products.
Prof Cox, who is also the chair of the Royal College of Physicians’ policy group on tobacco, said the group welcomes the Government’s plans to ban the sale of these products to under 18s, but added the legislation “should have been in place a number of years ago”.
The Cabinet approved the measures for e-cigarettes and vapes earlier this week, which also aim to restrict where such products can be sold and advertised.
“This legislation has been in gestation for a number of years now and it is overdue,” Prof Cox said, but added that while it is a positive step, the RCPI group felt the changes “could have gone further”.
“Our group has been calling for a ban on the sale of flavourings in e-cigarette liquids for a number of years now.
“It is something which would allow ex-smokers to continue to use e-cigarettes if they wish to quit smoking, but it would also not entice teenagers to the market, because it has been shown in research that flavours are one of the attractions to these products for young people,” Prof Cox said.
Targeting young people
He added that many young people are being exposed to advertisements for e-cigarette and vaping products on social media platforms such as TikTok, flagging this as another area which policymakers should seek to address.
Products which have becoming increasingly popular with young people which are of particular concern are disposable vapes, including brands like Elf bars.
Prof Cox pointed to recent ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) research in the UK, which found there was a seven-fold increase in the number of teenagers using disposable vapes over the space of a year.
“That is a growing and emerging problem that we need to deal with,” Prof Cox warned.
The popularity of these products among teenagers is of huge concern due to the impact nicotine can have on brains and lungs which are not yet fully developed.
“From a brain perspective, it has been known to impact cognitional behaviour in teenagers, and from a lung perspective, inhaling these products there is experimental evidence that it can lead to inflammation and irritation of the lungs and airways.”
The problem is that these products are being marketed to young people and non-smokers to be used as a recreational product
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While Prof Cox acknowledged that e-cigarettes and vapes are less harmful than regular cigarettes, “the issue we have as a group is that we don’t know the long-term impact of e-cigarettes and that inhaling these products regularly overtime most likely will lead to some damage to your lungs”.
“For ex-smokers who are using e-cigarettes, absolutely it’s better than using cigarettes, but the problem is that these products are being marketed to young people and non-smokers to be used as a recreational product.
“That is where the problem really lies.
“If these devices were solely marketed as a stop smoking or quitting tool, that wouldn’t be an issue for us, but the tobacco companies have invested heavily in e-cigarette companies, and they are marketing these products to young people.
“Our fear is that this will create a new generation of nicotine-addicted young people, and that will have long-term implications and health implications.”
Prof Cox stressed that Ireland has a “worldwide reputation for being very strong on tobacco control”, but since ground-breaking initiatives like the workplace ban on smoking – introduced in 2004 – the matter seems to have fallen off the agenda.
He said Ireland needs to look at countries like New Zealand, who are now at the fore of tobacco control legislation, and re-iterated the policy group’s calls for a ban on the sale of tobacco products to people under 21.
'Monumental error'
In response to these calls, spokesperson for smokers’ advocacy group Forest Ireland, John Mallon said: “Raising the age of sale of tobacco to 21 will infantilise generations of young adults.
“If you’re old enough to join the army, drive a car and purchase alcohol, you’re old enough to make an informed decision to smoke tobacco.”
While Mr Mallon said restricting the sale of e-cigarettes to people over 18 “makes sense because the policy is consistent with other potentially addictive product like alcohol and tobacco”, he added that banning flavoured vapes and vaping liquids would be a “monumental error”.
“It would discourage many smokers from switching to a far less harmful product. It will also result in unregulated flavoured vapes being sold on the black market.”
“There is very little evidence that vaping is a gateway to smoking, so it’s important not to fuel unnecessary fears about a product that is overwhelming used not by teenagers, but by adults who are trying to quit smoking,” Mr Mallon added.
