Thanks to endorsing the use of safer nicotine alternatives such as vapes, the UK has achieved the lowest smoking rates ever recorded. Yet in a somewhat contradictory move the nation has just announced a ban on disposable vapes.

Disposables can act as a crucial stepping stone for smokers looking to quit because they provide an easy entry point, and after trying them many former smokers tend to eventually transition to open systems. Concerns about the widespread use of single use vapes have been consistently growing worldwide. The main issues with the products are the fact that they are amassing an overwhelming number of waste due to its non recycle parts and their disposable nature. Moreover, the disposable and therefore non-committal and cheap factors of products, are very alluring to teens.

In fact, capitalizing on these factors a wave of products disguised as school supplies, such as highlighters and USBs are allegedly flooding into the U.S. from China. Other vapes are made to look like ballpoint pens and even phones, and they are available in all the popular fruity flavours. These vapes are reportedly also unregulated, and therefore possibly unsafe.

Meanwhile, bans on disposable vapes are spreading like wildfire. Within Europe, the Prime Minister of France, Élisabeth Borne, has recently announced that the country is planning to ban disposables, locally known as “puffs.” While Switzerland’s French-speaking cantons, with the exception of Vaud and Jura have already banned vape sales to under 18s, and Basel-City and Basel-Landschaft in the German-speaking region of the nation have also introduced such bans.

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