Two in five disposable vapers do not understand that it is now illegal to sell them.
A new poll for The Grocer found 29% believe there is a ban on selling disposable vapes, but that stores can sell off their old stock until it’s gone, while 9% were completely unaware of the ban.
Only 62% correctly answered that it is illegal to sell disposable vapes. The survey was conducted by Find Out Now and exclusively polled consumers who have bought a disposable vape since the beginning of March.
Asked about how their habits had changed following the 1 June ban, 59.1% said they had switched to a refillable vape while 14% are using up old supplies.
Some 7.8% are buying disposable vapes from their usual channels and 1% another way. Asked about those new channels, one person answered “There’s a thriving black market for these. Easy to find if you ask the right people” and another “I buy them from a guy who comes round all the pubs in Worthing”. One respondent said he purchased disposable vapes from his local barbers.
Alarmingly 7.8% said they were smoking more cigarettes following the ban, with this figure rising to 12.8% amongst over-65s.
Challenges of outright bans
Last week The Grocer reported that one in six convenience stores were continuing to sell disposable vapes, despite them having been outlawed more than two months ago.
UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) director general John Dunne said: “These survey findings do not surprise me and underline the UKVIA’s long-held view that outright bans do not work.
“Before the ban was introduced, we warned this would lead to an increase in illicit sales and an increase in smoking, which are both serious unintended consequences which could have been avoided.
“Sadly, this is not the first survey to highlight these flaws in the single-use vapes ban and I very much fear it will not be the last.
“If seeing smoking rates increase and adult vapers resorting to black market supplies are not warning signs that something is very badly wrong, then I don’t know what is.
“It is not too late to reverse this trend and the UKVIA is always happy to work with the government to create better regulation which will drive down smoking rates in line with smoke-free and health objectives.
“We need a nationwide public health information campaign to highlight that vaping represents only a fraction of the risks of smoking, because misconceptions about the relative risks of smoking and vaping are at an all-time high and partly responsible for the willingness of former smokers to return to cigarettes.”
UKVIA also repeated its calls for a vape retail licensing scheme to protect legitimate retailers and target those who sell to children or sell illegal products.
“Vape licensing could generate more than £50m a year to fund a robust enforcement programme for Trading Standards departments across the country and, backed up with punitive fines of £10,000 for breaking the law, could stem the tide of illegal sales,” Dunne added.
Smokers switching to vapes
Caroline Cerny, deputy CEO at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said it was encouraging that most consumers were switching to reusable vapes.
She told The Grocer: “It’s early days, but we are optimistic that the disposable vapes ban is leading to significant shifts towards the use of reusable products, bringing benefits to the environment. There remain issues to address in terms of the availability of products that no longer meet UK standards, but the majority of consumers have already moved to new compliant products.
“While it’s concerning that some people report smoking more since the ban, the reasons for this are likely to be complex – as we know smoking and vaping behaviours are dynamic, particularly among dual users. This will need to be carefully monitored as smoking poses many more risks to health than vaping.”
A spokeswoman for the Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA) said: “It’s unfortunate but inevitable that some older people have returned to smoking. In fact, all people that might find the complexity of rechargeable vapes challenging have been put at this same risk.
“Some that believe they are still using single-use vapes may actually be using newer rechargeable vapes without realising. If they have a charging port, they very likely also have a changeable pod. Fortunately, there only appears to be a small minority of vapers that need to be encouraged to recharge and refill or replace their pod when it runs out.
“IBVTA members’ sales of prefilled and refillable replacement pods in all channels is very encouraging. There is no doubt at all that the environmental aims of the ban are being met, as every replacement pod sold represents a battery being recharged rather than discarded.”
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