A new study found that one million people in England now vape even though they were never regular smokers before picking it up, the number is highest in people aged 16-24.
Kristin Hawthorne reports
Kristin Hawthorne reports
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00:00A new study has found that 1 million people in England vape, even though they had never
00:05smoked regularly beforehand.
00:07The amount of people using vapes in this way has dramatically increased in the past few
00:12years as figures show that in 2021 the amount of people using vapes was 1 in 200, but this
00:19year it has risen to 1 in 28.
00:22This increase has been largely driven by young adults who had never regularly smoked before.
00:28It has also been found that vape sales are the highest amongst people aged 16 to 24.
00:33I've been stood outside of this vape shop in Gillingham for about an hour now and I've
00:37already noticed a lot of young people coming into the store, buying vapes and showing a
00:41lot of interest in different flavours and varieties that they have to offer.
00:45As an example I picked up this one which has an interactive screen, four different flavours
00:49and a charging port.
00:51And after speaking to some people who vape they told me that it's reasons like this which
00:55makes vaping so addictive and makes it have such a large appeal.
00:59I think mostly the packaging as well and the flavours as well, yeah.
01:03I feel like they do put the flavours out for kids, like strawberry unicorn or stuff like
01:08that, they do put it out for young kids, like and how colourful they are, whereas like if
01:12you bought cigarettes they'd be like, it says on it this will kill you if you smoke it but
01:16actual vapes they're all colourful, like this one is literally like, it's bright green.
01:21In England it is estimated that 5.1 million people aged 16 and over in Britain use e-cigarettes.
01:29This means that 1 in 10 people now use vapes.
01:33When I first started it was actually due to my friends smoking that like enticed me to
01:38try it and then I actually didn't like it in the end and I decided to vape when they
01:42first started to come out and yeah then they just become more of a thing and then I decided
01:47to do it more.
01:49Health experts are concerned with these new findings and suggest stricter regulations
01:53to make the vapes look less appealing.
01:55We do worry about younger people taking up anything with nicotine in it because of the
02:00fact that certain things like their brains are still developing and their bodies are
02:04still developing so the effect of nicotine is likely to have a larger effect.
02:09Also if they get hooked in childhood or teenage years and they carry on for longer term, that's
02:15a longer period of time during which they're exposed to potential hazards and that can
02:19then lead to problems.
02:21Although plans have already been made to ban disposable vapes, many brands have already
02:25started releasing reusable products which are marketed in the same way and have the
02:30same appeal as the disposable ones.
02:33Kristen Hawthorne, KMTV in Gillingham.