Why Is It Taking So Long To Tackle The Epidemic Of Children Vaping?

Blueberry bubblegum. Lemon pie. Caramel cheesecake. Sickly-sweet concoctions that are just a fraction of the dessert-flavoured nicotine vapes available to buy for not much more than a high-end chocolate bar, in bright packaging often adorned with cartoon illustrations designed to appeal to children.

- Sonia Sodha

It is a huge red flag that something has gone seriously amiss in the rules governing e-cigarette marketing and sales in the UK.

What makes the question of how to regulate vaping more complex than cigarettes or alcohol is that, unlike with the latter two substances - where a collective fall in consumption would be an unambiguously good thing for the nation's health - public health experts want to encourage smokers to switch from cigarettes to vapes while keeping non-smokers, particularly children and young people, well away from vaping.

That's because it's almost certainly the case that vapes are significantly less harmful to human health than cigarettes, which are the most lethal consumer product known to man and kill at least half of those who regularly smoke them. There is also growing evidence that nicotine-based vapes are more effective in helping people give up smoking than traditional nicotine-based replacement therapy such as gums and patches.