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Cancer Research UK is concerned about the impact a ban on disposables in the UK could have on vaping harm perception and overall public health.
The organisation was particularly worried a ban on disposables justified on the grounds of protecting youth health would have the unintended effect of associating all vaping products with a negative health impact.
It has called on the UK government to ensure it includes work to rectify harm misperceptions between tobacco and vaping as part of the implementation of any ban. This could include accurate relative-risk public communications to smokers to ensure they are not discouraged from switching.
“There appears to be a real risk that as a result of a ban on disposable e-cigarettes all e-cigarettes could be viewed negatively – even for adults who might otherwise have chosen or considered using them for smoking cessation,” Cancer Research UK said.
Efficacy of efforts to curb youth vaping
The health group did not openly oppose a disposable ban. It was, however, unsure whether a ban on its own would be enough to curb youth appeal. It suggested it would like to see the UK government take further action to make vaping less appealing to young people – for example, by regulating packaging and display – with the implication that these efforts may be more effective in tackling youth vaping than a disposable ban.
The UK government should not lose sight of the overall public health aim – eliminating smoking in society – and should consider that ultimate goal when considering policies that effect vaping, it added.
Cancer Research UK said it was important to remember that cigarettes were the most dangerous consumer product ever offered for sale and that the perception government efforts to combat their use have failed has risen over the past decade, with 46% of survey respondents thinking efforts to tackle smoking were insufficient in 2022 – up from 29% in 2009.
Nearly 1 in 4 think vapes are more harmful than cigarettes
Vaping has emerged as a market-driven potential solution to smoking cessation issues. But perceptions of relative harm have gone the wrong way over a similar timeframe. A paper based on the Smoking Toolkit Study (STS) data showed that, in 2014, 10.8% of respondents thought e-cigarettes were more harmful than cigarettes; by 2023, this had increased to 23.3%. More recent data from STS indicates this trend has continued into 2024, after the Tobacco and Vapes Bill was announced.
“It is not known how implementing a ban on disposable vapes or increasing the age of sale of tobacco every year by one year will further affect this trend,” Cancer Research UK added
If a ban is implemented, provisions should be made so that youth/never smokers that had used disposables are given cessation support to mitigate the chance of them turning to the illicit market to fulfil their requirements. It also wants the government to commission research into optimum vaping cessation to avoid relapse and develop guidance on quitting vaping without relapsing to smoking.
Otherwise, there is a chance under-age participants may move towards smoking – particularly given the current state of harm perception in the UK, the charity said.
Balancing youth protection with smoking cessation
“The cumulative effect of policies introduced – including any proposed duty on e-liquids – would also need to be carefully considered to achieve the right balance of both protecting youth and those who have never smoked on the one hand and helping people who smoke to quit on the other,” Cancer Research UK said.
The charity said it was concerned a disposable ban may have the largest effect on dual users as well as recent switchers and long-term quitters that have continued to use disposables. Any ban needs to come with work to replace the impact of disposables on cessation efforts – for example, additional support in areas such as behavioural support, pharmacotherapy and nicotine replacement therapy.
There are also concerns a disposable ban could disproportionally affect lower socioeconomic groups, as disposables have a lower up-front (though higher long-term) cost.
“Previous research with participants who used disposables and aimed to change to refillable devices showed that high initial cost was one of the main barriers to switching, alongside the weaker flavour and unreliability of alternative devices,” Cancer Research UK said.
It likely would not be possible to replicate this low barrier of entry in terms of cost and ease of use with other products in the event of a disposable ban. But the government should do everything it can to ensure refillable/reusable e-cigarettes remain easily available and accessible while the price difference between tobacco and vaping remains consistent, so people are encouraged to move.
And there were concerns industry would simply bring in products that undermine the desired impact of any ban – for example, new products that are not meaningfully more environmentally sustainable or that incorporate other features that appeal to young people or those that have never smoked.
Challenges of evaluating health impact
The organisation attempted to do further research with a variety of consumers to understand the impact disposable e-cigarettes could have on cessation and whether a ban on them might do more or less public health harm overall. However, the research returned very mixed results – something Cancer Research UK said had been a hallmark of previous, similar attempts to qualify the public health impact of disposables.
“Longitudinal research conducted over the time preceding and following the introduction of restrictions and the ban on disposable e-cigarettes would be required to fully understand the impact of these interventions on future use of tobacco products and e-cigarettes,” Cancer Research UK said.
– Freddie Dawson ECigIntelligence staff
