Greater than 100 million individuals around the globe are utilizing e-cigarettes, in keeping with “alarming” estimates from the World Well being Organisation, with nearly 15 million youngsters believed to vape.
In its report – the well being physique’s first ever monitoring of using vapes and different digital smoking units – the WHO stated that determine contains at the least 86 million adults, largely from high-income nations.
However the report stated 14.7 million of the full believed to make use of e-cigarettes had been reportedly kids aged between 13 and 15 years outdated.
It added that vaping’s prevalence amongst teenagers globally was 7.2%. In distinction, whereas round 20.4 million adolescents reported smoking cigarettes, it had a prevalence of 5.1%.
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The report’s authors added that, based mostly on accessible information for 63 nations – together with within the UK – charges of vaping for 13- to 15-year-olds are “on average nine times higher than the prevalence among adults”, including that “adolescents are generally using the products at a higher rate than adults”.
In addition they stated: “Given that no country with a recent school-based survey of this age group found current use of e-cigarettes at zero, it is reasonable to assume the WHO estimate is an undercount.
“This discovering is no surprise contemplating that the trade is aggressively focusing on kids and younger individuals, together with by way of new digital channels which might be underregulated.”
Etienne Krug, director of the WHO’s Well being Determinants, Promotion and Prevention division, stated in an announcement that “e-cigarettes are fuelling a new wave of nicotine addiction”.
“They are marketed as harm reduction,” she added, “but, in reality, are hooking kids on nicotine earlier and risk undermining decades of progress.”
WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus additionally stated that whereas thousands and thousands are “stopping, or not taking up tobacco use… the tobacco industry is fighting back with new nicotine products, aggressively targeting young people”.
He known as on governments to “act faster and stronger in implementing proven tobacco control policies”.
The UK launched a ban on promoting and supplying single-use vapes in June this 12 months, designed to deal with waste and the affect of vapes on the setting.
Whereas there is no such thing as a additional ban on vapes within the works, the federal government’s Tobacco and Vapes Invoice, which is at the moment within the committee stage on the Home of Lords, contains powers to probably limit the packaging, advertising and flavours of e-cigarettes.
