00:00 They're a familiar and colourful sight on our high streets and an unwelcome addition
00:05 to our landfill.
00:07 Now disposable vapes are set to be banned in Britain as part of plans to tackle the
00:11 rise in young people vaping.
00:14 It forms part of the government's commitment to create a smoke-free generation with an
00:19 incremental raising of the legal smoking age.
00:21 "And have you seen that it's become an increasing issue?
00:25 It's getting worse, you think, over the past year or two, just generally?"
00:29 New data show the number of children vaping in the last three years has tripled and use
00:34 among younger children is also rising, with 9% of 11-15 year olds now using vapes.
00:40 "If you talk to any parent or teacher, as I've been doing here at this school in Darlington
00:45 this morning, they'll talk about the worrying rise in vaping amongst children.
00:49 Children shouldn't be vaping, we don't want them to get addicted, we still don't understand
00:52 the full long-term health impacts of vaping, so it's right that we take strong action to
00:57 stamp this out."
00:58 Dr Ronnie Chung is a parent and a consultant paediatrician.
01:02 He says vaping amongst young people is now an epidemic.
01:05 "We've seen children who've come into intensive care because of the effect it has on their
01:11 lungs.
01:12 But those are rare cases in the short term.
01:15 What we don't know is the greater effects in the long term and actually the likelihood
01:19 is that we're going to end up having cases of lung cancer, heart disease and all of those
01:25 things that we see with smoking in the longer run with vaping."
01:30 It's not just young people's health.
01:32 There are environmental concerns over the growing popularity of disposable vapes.
01:36 "We know that 69% of young people who vape use disposable vapes and we also know just
01:43 from walking around our high streets the impact that they have.
01:46 Some 5 million disposable vapes are thrown away on the street or in our bins every single
01:51 week.
01:52 So to tackle all of that we're bringing in this ban on disposable vapes but vaping will
01:56 still be available of course to adults who want to quit smoking."
02:00 Not everyone in the Conservative Party is behind the government's plans.
02:04 Rishi Sunak's predecessor Liz Truss said on Sunday that the proposals are profoundly un-conservative
02:10 and that the government should not be seeking to extend the nanny state.
02:14 However, Labour says it backs the smoking ban, making the government's measures likely
02:18 to pass through the Commons.
02:19 "I'm going to say to the Tories, we'll always act in the national interest.
02:23 We'll help you get these proposals through because we know you're so divided but we'll
02:27 help you get these proposals through."
02:29 The body that represents the vaping industry says it welcomes moves aimed at under 18s
02:34 but is concerned about the potential impact on adult smokers.
02:38 "Elderly, certain socio-economic groups actually find single use very straightforward.
02:44 You don't have to refill, they're not fiddly and actually therefore helping them with these
02:48 very simplistic products, they are smokers and we want to help them transition away from
02:52 that has been critical.
02:54 So the challenge for those groups is which products can they use to ensure that they
02:58 maintain that quit journey that they wish to go on."
03:01 The government says it will provide an additional £30m a year to enforcement agencies, including
03:07 Border Force and Trading Standards, to implement the new measures.
03:11 The ban is expected to come into force at the end of this year or the start of the next.
03:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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