Social media influencers could be banned from promoting e-cigarettes to teens after a surge in videos on TikTok and Instagram.
Government ministers are gathering evidence on how to stamp out teenage use of e-cigarettes after growing concerns that young people are getting hooked on nicotine through the products. A ban on fruit flavorings and packaging that might appeal to children is already being considered.
TikTok does not allow ads promoting e-cigarettes or other tobacco products on its platform, but concerns have grown about their widespread use by influencers.
Professor Andrew Bush, of the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, urged ministers to push for a ban on colourful and attractive e-cigarette packaging.
He also encouraged them to look into how to promote the devices on social media. Professor Bush told the Mirror it was worrying that people with great influence over children were promoting e-cigarettes for them on social media.
“I can’t remember nicotine gum ever appearing in an attractive advertisement with a beautiful lady using it. It’s the industry that funds these people or so-called influencers and probably gives them free e-cigarettes. They all know tobacco is on its way out and want e-cigarettes to be the next big thing.” ‘he said.
It comes after a Mirror investigation revealed today that shops are illegally selling nicotine e-cigarettes to children.
One 13-year-old undercover shopper was able to buy a whole bunch of e-cigarettes – which contain as much nicotine as 100 cigarettes – in one day.
Health Secretary Neil O ‘Brien said last week that the government was making a special appeal for evidence on youth vaping.
The Conservative MP said: This will look at a range of issues including how we ensure compliance, looking at the appearance and features of e-cigarettes, about the marketing and promotion of e-cigarettes, and the role of social media, which is vital. It will also seek to better understand the e-cigarette market and look at issues such as the price of low-cost products and disposables.
Conservative MP Caroline Johnson, who is also a consultant paediatrician, recently said ministers needed to press ahead with a massive multi-pronged attack on teenagers’ use of e-cigarettes to bring advertising rules into line with those on smoking.
“Social media influencers are also an issue we need to keep a close eye on – although designing effective regulation to stop this form of marketing needs to strike the right balance.” ‘she said.
There is evidence of alarming rates of underage e-cigarette use, which doubled last year, according to ASH, who found that 7% of 11 to 17-year-olds surveyed in 2022 were “current users”, up from 3.3% the year before.
There are also concerns about the rise of illegal-sized black market e-cigarettes, with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute warning that around a third of vcigarette products on shelves are in breach of UK law. The illegal e-cigarettes our undercover children bought contained five times the nicotine content of legal e-cigarettes for only twice the price.
Organised criminal gangs are believed to smuggle £500m worth of illegal e-cigarettes into the UK every year. Most of them are made in China and are designed for larger and stronger markets where e-cigarettes are legal, such as the United States.