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** 23 May 2023
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** UK
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** Vaping: High lead and nickel found in illegal vapes (#1)
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** Opinion: How I got hooked on vaping: Health Editor Barney Calman (#2)
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** New Labour group leader elected unopposed (#3)
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** Parliamentary Activity
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** House of Lords: Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill pavement licences debate (#4)
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** UK
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** Vaping: High lead and nickel found in illegal vapes

Vapes confiscated from school pupils contain high levels of lead, nickel and chromium, BBC News has found.

Used vapes gathered at Baxter College in Kidderminster were tested in a laboratory.

The results showed children using them could be inhaling more than the daily safe amount of lead, and nine times the safe amount of nickel.

Some vapes also contained harmful chemicals called carbonyls also found in cigarette smoke.

University of Nottingham epidemiology professor John Britton, who sits on the Royal College of Physicians Tobacco Group, said inhaling metals could be dangerous.

"Lead is a neurotoxin and impairs brain development, chrome and nickel are allergens and metal particles in general in the bloodstream can trigger blood clotting and can exacerbate cardiovascular disease," he said.

"The carbonyls are mildly carcinogenic and so with sustained use will increase the risk of cancer - but in legal products, the levels of all of these things is extremely low so the lifetime risk to the individual is extremely small."

The Inter Scientific laboratory, in Liverpool, which works with vape manufacturers to ensure regulatory standards are met, analysed 18 vapes, most of which were illegal.

Lab co-founder David Lawson said: "In 15 years of testing, I have never seen lead in a device. None of these should be on the market - they break all the rules on permitted levels of metal.”

Manufacturers have to follow regulations on ingredients, packaging and marketing - and all e-cigarettes and e-liquids must be registered with the Medicine and Health Care Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). But the agency is not required to check the claims made in paperwork and has no power to investigate unregistered products.

MHRA head of e-cigarettes Craig Copland said the results would be reviewed to assess whether the vapes posed a health risk.

Head teacher Mat Carpenter was horrified by the findings. He has installed sensors in the school toilets to try to reduce opportunities to vape.

"As a society we are capable of holding two messages, one that if you smoke already vaping can have a positive effect on your health, but children should not be vaping."

The government has allocated £3m to tackle the sale of illegal vapes in England. It wants to fund more test purchases and have the products removed from shops and is calling for evidence to help cut the number of children accessing vapes.

It is illegal to sell vapes to under-18s. But a YouGov survey in March and April for Action on Smoking and Health suggests a rise in experimental vaping among 11- to 17-year-olds, from 7.7%, last year, to 11.6%.

Source: BBC news, 23 May 2023

Editorial Note: Most of the products seized and tested in this article are illegal to sell in the UK. All e-cigarettes and e-liquids must be ‘notified’ with the MHRA to be sold legally. People can check whether a specific vaping product has been registered with the MHRA here ([link removed]) . People who vape should only use products which have been notified and meet UK standards.

See also: ASH – 2023 youth vaping press release ([link removed]) | Ministerial announcement – Achieving a smokefree 2030 ([link removed])
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** Opinion: How I got hooked on vaping: Health Editor Barney Calman

Barney Calman, health editor for the Mail on Sunday, discusses his experience with vaping and its growing popularity among young people. Calman, a former smoker, started vaping at the age of 43 to ‘see what it was like’ and found it difficult to stop.

The author writes that he no longer vapes now and his experience with the products have convinced him that the government need to do more to limit their use. This is not because, as Calman writes, there has been any new evidence to suggest that vapes are harmful. He points to evidence that vapes are “pretty much risk-free” and is recommended to smokers who are trying to quit. It is instead because children who have never smoked are now experimenting with vaping and are at risk of becoming addicted to nicotine.

Calman adds that new data from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) that shows that the proportion of 11 to 17-year-olds trying vaping once or twice increased from 7.7% in 2022 to 11.6% in 2023. The writer states that increasing the price of disposable vapes and reducing their appeal by regulating the packaging and their promotion have all been suggested by experts as measures that could help curb their growing popularity.

Calman speaks to Professor Alan Boobis, an expert in toxicology at Imperial College London, who reports that many of the compounds found in a vape are found in very low levels, comparable to found normally in the air. There is also no evidence to suggest that vaping is a ‘gateway drug’ that will lead to smoking.

The author concludes that compared to smoking, vaping is substantially less harmful, but compared to neither vaping or smoking there is an increased risk. He adds that further action is needed to make these products less appealing to children.

Source: The Daily Mail, 21 May 2023

See also: ASH – 2023 youth vaping press release ([link removed]) | ASH – Resources on youth vaping ([link removed])

Barney Calman also discusses the topic of vaping in an episode of the Medical Minefield podcast with his co-host Ethan Ennals, senior health reporter at the Mail on Sunday. The episode features Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, and Professor John Britton, a consultant in respiratory medicine at the University of Nottingham. You can listen to the podcast here ([link removed]) .
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** New Labour group leader elected unopposed

Nesil Caliskan (Lab), the leader of Enfield LBC, became the next leader of the LGA Labour group today.

Cllr Caliskan announced she was standing last week was elected unopposed after nobody else put themselves forward by today’s deadline.

She is currently chair of the LGA’s safer and stronger communities board, and is London Councils’ executive member for health, wellbeing and adult care.

The LGA Labour group also announced that Michael Payne (Lab), deputy leader of Gedling BC and councillor at Nottinghamshire CC, and Bev Craig (Lab), leader of Manchester City Council have been elected as deputy leaders.

Source: LGC, 22 May 2023
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** Parliamentary Activity
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** House of Lords: Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill pavement licences debate

Yesterday, Peers debated the smokefree pavement licences amendment to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill, tabled by Lord Young of Cookham, Lord Faulkner of Worcester, Baroness Northover and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath. The purpose of the amendment is to ensure that all pavement licences granted by local authorities are smokefree.

Lord Young of Cookham ([link removed]) introduced the amendment and asked the Minister to “confirm that the Government intend to bring forward further measures to reduce smoking in the upcoming major conditions strategy.”

Baroness Northover ([link removed]) set out the public health case for this measure and highlighted that the Government has still not published a comprehensive strategy to deliver on the smokefree 2030 ambition.

Responding for the Government, Earl Howe ([link removed]) , deputy leader of the House of Lords, did not back the amendment or respond to Lord Young’s question. He stated that the government believes it is “important to allow local areas to make the decisions that are right for them, using local knowledge and the powers that they already have to impose conditions.”

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage ([link removed]) , who is the Shadow Spokesperson for Levelling Up, Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “On the powerful advocacy of the noble Lord, Lord Young, for prohibiting smoking in the defined areas, I am pleased to say up front that in Stevenage, smoking is prohibited in those areas. It was interesting to hear that two-thirds of the public do not think that smoking should be permitted in those outside areas. The Minister said that, where local authorities make these designations without specifying smoking or non-smoking areas, both have to be included, but that does not really account for issues such as smoke drift. If you are somewhere where there is both smoking and non-smoking areas—especially outside, where it might be windy and smoke will blow towards you—I do not see how it will
be possible to make any of those areas smoke free. That took me back to the days when prohibitions on smoking indoors started to be mooted. Back in the day, it was quite common to smoke in cinemas, restaurants and even, dare I say it, council meetings. We would not dream of doing that now; things have changed over the years, and for the better”

The amendment was not pushed to a vote.

Source: Hansard, 22 May 2023
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.

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