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Vaping among children doubles in two years as experts blame TikTok

Vaping teenager - Aleksandr Yu/iStockphoto
Vaping teenager - Aleksandr Yu/iStockphoto

Vaping among children and teenagers has almost doubled in two years, data suggest, with experts blaming the rise on social media.

The survey of children, carried out for the Action on Smoking on Health (Ash) charity, showed that seven per cent of 11- to 17-year-olds are vapers, up from four per cent in 2020.

Experts said that children were being attracted to disposable e-cigarettes, in fruity flavours, being used by people on TikTok and Instagram.

Over the past year, a new generation of disposable vapes known as “puff bars”, which contain nicotine, have come on to the market.

While it is illegal to sell vapes to under-18s, social media carries posts from teenagers showing the new vapes and discussing the flavours, which include pink lemonade, mango and strawberry banana.

Some 2,613 children across Britain took part in the survey, carried out by YouGov in March, which informed Ash’s report.

For the first time this year, the survey asked children about awareness of the promotion of e-cigarettes. TikTok was mentioned most often as the source of online promotion, followed by Instagram and Snapchat.

TikTok - Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images
TikTok - Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images

Deborah Arnott, the chief executive of Ash, said: “The disposable vapes that have surged in popularity over the last year are brightly coloured, pocket-size products with sweet flavours and sweet names. They are widely available for under a fiver – no wonder they’re attractive to children.”

She said that more funding was needed to enforce the law against underage sales and action was needed on child-friendly packaging and labelling, and promotion on social media.

“Online platforms don’t need to wait,” she said. “They must act now.”

Gillian Golden, the chief executive of the Independent British Vape Trade Association, said: “Social media platforms supposedly have policies to prevent promotion of vapes to children, but they do little to enforce them.”

A spokesman for TikTok said: “At TikTok, nothing is more important than keeping our community safe, especially our youngest users.

“Regardless of a user’s age, we strictly prohibit content that depicts or promotes the sale, trade or offer of tobacco, including vaping products, and we will remove any content found to be violating our community guidelines.”

Instagram declined to comment.