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Wales: Give child vapers nicotine patches to break addiction
Children addicted to vaping should be given nicotine patches or gum to help them break their addiction, public health officials have said.
A report by Public Health Wales (PHW) – one of the organisations that makes up NHS Wales – said vaping should be seen as a “dependency issue”, with young people needing support to quit.
The public health body’s incident response group (IRG) has made a series of recommendations, including that young people with dependency issues be given access to nicotine replacement therapies such as chewing gum, skin patches, or inhalators.
Anti-smoking group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) said some children could benefit from such moves. Deputy chief executive Hazel Cheesman said: “It is likely that some teenagers who are vaping are addicted to nicotine and could benefit from using patches and gums as an alternative.
“Addiction is not desirable at any age and certainly not in childhood.
“However, it must be remembered that the much bigger risk to health remains smoking.
“Health services must prioritise helping children and parents who smoke to quit.”
The report said that access to vapes was “relatively convenient” for children, which are often sourced from older siblings and family members, shops and online stores.
It said: “Vaping was most frequently observed in visible (although sometimes secluded) social settings.
“This environment seemed to contribute to feelings of peer pressure. Participants described a strong desire to fit in and look cool and found it difficult to refuse offers to share devices.”
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “We are very concerned by the rise in youth vaping and welcome the investigation undertaken by the IRG on vaping amongst children and young people in Wales. We will consider its recommendations carefully.
“We are working with the other UK Governments to tackle youth vaping by reducing the appeal and availability of vapes to children through the UK Tobacco and Vapes Bill.”
Source: The Telegraph, 18 April 2024
See also: Public Health Wales - Vaping amongst Children and Young People in Wales: Incident Response Group
UK Parliament: Tobacco and Vapes Bill
ASH - Use of e-cigarettes among young people in Great Britain
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How teen smoking rates have fallen EIGHT-FOLD since the 80s amid the UK's war on tobacco
Teen smoking rates are eight times lower now than they were in the 80s thanks to the Government's war on tobacco.
Only 3 per cent of 15 year olds in England now smoke, official figures show.
For comparison, a quarter did so in 1982. Rates fell quickest in the early noughties, according to an historical survey ran by the NHS.
Experts say the introduction of modern anti-smoking laws, like selling cigarettes in plain packaging, are behind the huge fall.
The latest teen figures, for 2021, suggest just four per cent of boys aged 15 and three per cent of girls now smoke.
This marked a three-fold drop on just a decade earlier, when 11 per cent regularly lit up.
The sharpest drop came between 2006 and 2012 when total rates halved from 20 to 10 per cent.
Nationwide, only about one in eight people in the UK now smoke. Almost half did so in the mid-70s, according to data compiled by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and NHS England.
It comes as Rishi Sunak's bold plan to ban the next generation from ever smoking yesterday moved a step closer to becoming law.
Under the bill, which MPs on Tuesday voted to back by 383 to 67, anyone born after 2009 won't ever be able to legally buy tobacco.
If eventually passed, it means children aged 15 or younger today will never legally be sold a cigarette.
The Government believes the phased ban, raising the legal age for purchasing tobacco by one year every year from 2027, will lead to 1.7million fewer people smoking by 2075.
It predicts the move will save tens of thousands of lives, and avoiding avoid up to 115,000 cases of strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and other lung diseases.
Source: Daily Mail, 18 April 2024
See also: Office for National Statistics - Adult smoking habits in the UK: 2022 | UK Parliament: Tobacco and Vapes Bill
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Tobacco and Vapes Bill 2nd reading
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill had its second reading in Parliament on 16 April, followed by a vote on the Bill. MPs voted in favour of the Bill with 383 for vs 67 against, meaning that the Bill will now proceed to committee stage.
See a full list of how each MP voted here
Find a transcript of the parliamentary debate here
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RCP report: E-cigarettes and harm reduction: An evidence review
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has published a new report that looks at the part e-cigarettes can play in preventing death, disability and inequalities from tobacco use.
The new RCP report, E-cigarettes and harm reduction: An evidence review, looks at several themes, including how e-cigarettes can be used to support more people to make quit attempts while discouraging young people and never-smokers from taking up e-cigarette use. It also examines trends in tobacco and vaping use, the effectiveness of e-cigarettes to treat tobacco addiction, and the differences in health effects of vaping in people who smoke, vape or do neither, the role of the tobacco industry in the rising use of e-cigarettes, and the ethical dilemmas presented by e-cigarettes.
Press release: RCP calls for regulations to protect children and young people from vaping
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Podcast: Prevention is the new cure – Tobacco and Vapes Bill
On their podcast ‘Prevention is the new cure’, Professor Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard, former chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Steve Brine MP, Chair of the Health Select Committee, discuss the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.
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An exciting Consortium Manager post is available in a major, new multi-partner, multi-disciplinary research consortium, Population Health Improvement UK: Commercial Determinants of Health & Equity. This grant is funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and is one of the four clusters within the Population Health Improvement Network.
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University of Bath are looking for a motivated project administrator to provide support for an exciting new research project on Population Health Improvement which is a UK-focused project primarily supporting the project work at the University of Bath and also in support of project partners across the UK.
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2 Research Associates positions are available in a new research project, Health Hub: Systems approaches to commercial determinants of health and equity. This grant is funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and is one of the four clusters within the Population Health Improvement Network of clusters.
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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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