UK Local Health Board Rejects Calls for a Local Ban on Disposable Vapes

 The UK’s Local Government Association has expressed concern about the health and environmental impact of disposable e-cigarettes and has suggested banning them. Councillors in Bath and North East Somerset called for a ban on e-cigarettes, but health leaders opposed the move, arguing that e-cigarettes help people quit smoking.

According to a September 29 report from the Bath Echo, Bath and North East Somerset Council proposed a ban on e-cigarette use this summer, but local health leaders rejected a blanket ban, saying that e-cigarettes help people stop smoking. 

On July 20, Bath and North East Somerset councillor Ruth Malloy said at a full council meeting that although e-cigarettes were originally developed as a tool to help smokers quit, the current trend is that more and more young people, and even children, are starting to use e-cigarettes despite never having smoked before. 

However, calls for a full ban were opposed by most local health leaders at the district’s Health and Wellbeing Board meeting on September 26. Health protection officer Ruth Sampson warned that mixed messaging could be misleading: "We know that e-cigarettes are helping many adult smokers quit. If we ban disposable e-cigarettes, we will see an increase in youth smoking.” 

Ms. Sampson added that providing disposable e-cigarettes to some vulnerable smokers is part of Bath and North East Somerset Council’s smoking cessation program. The council also plans to sign up for the government’s "swap to stop" scheme, which provides free e-cigarette starter kits to smokers who want to quit. 

Ms. Malloy said that New Zealand’s approach to e-cigarettes represents a "middle ground." In New Zealand, e-cigarettes must have removable or recyclable batteries, and sales are banned near schools and community gathering places. She emphasized, "Liberals never want to ban anything in principle. But I think this is really about protecting young people’s health, and I worry about people who have never smoked. Then there is also the environmental issue."