As smoking rates declined in every region, the number of adults and young people using e-cigarettes and vaping increased.

Labour says it will take forward the previous, Conservative government’s plans to stop vapes being marketed to children, to help create a smoke-free generation.

Using e-cigarettes or vaping is far less harmful than smoking cigarettes.

However, health experts agree that no one who doesn’t smoke should start vaping.

Doctors say vaping can cause long-term damage to young people’s lungs, hearts and brains, and they need to control themselves and avoid those dangerous additives.

The inhaled vapor contains small amounts of chemicals, often including addictive nicotine.

More research is needed to fully understand the health effects of e-cigarettes.

But in December 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) said: “Alarming evidence on their adverse population health effects is mounting.”

Illegally imported e-cigarettes are also common, and some merchants’ products are more likely to contain other harmful chemicals or drugs, such as marijuana.

Cigarettes contain tobacco, tar and a number of toxic chemicals that cause cancer and are the biggest preventable cause of disease and death in the UK.

Around half of lifelong smokers will die young, with an average life span cut by around 10 years.

That’s why smokers are urged to quit, and nicotine e-cigarettes are the most effective quitting tool – better than nicotine patches or gum. Anything can have a negative effect if used excessively.

Research shows that people who get face-to-face support when using e-cigarettes are twice as likely to quit smoking as those who use other methods.

But e-cigarettes are not harmless, so they are only recommended for adult smokers, who are provided with free e-cigarette kits by the NHS to help them quit as part of the NHS’s “Switch to Quit” program.

The NHS says thousands of people have quit smoking through e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes are also available in herbal e-cigarettes that do not contain nicotine, but the taste may be much worse.

Fewer people are smoking in the UK than ever before – by 2023, around 12%, or 6 million people, will smoke.

Official estimates show that fewer than one in 10 young people in the UK smoke, compared with a quarter of 18-24 year olds 12 years ago.

As smoking has fallen, e-cigarette use has risen sharply, with the highest rate among 16-24 year olds at nearly 16%.

But the biggest increase since 2022 has been among 25-34 year olds.

In 2023, about 5.1 million people in the UK used e-cigarettes. Just under 6% of people aged 16 and over vaped daily, slightly higher than the previous year, while another 3.9% vaped occasionally.

According to research published in October in The Lancet, the number of people in England who never smoked regularly but vaped has increased significantly. The harm of cigarettes is becoming more and more clear to more people.

E-cigarette use in this group had remained stable until 2021, when 1 in 200 people (about 133,000 people) vaped.

But now it is 1 in 28 people, just over a million people.

According to government regulations: It is illegal to sell nicotine-containing e-cigarettes to minors under the age of 18 or for adults to buy e-cigarettes on their behalf.

But the number of teenagers using e-cigarettes is also increasing. This is a serious problem.

According to data from an online survey of 2,000 children conducted by the health charity ASH (Action on Smoking and Health), in April 2023, nearly 8% of teenagers aged 11-17 had smoked e-cigarettes. This proportion is higher than 4% in 2020. Many teenagers will follow their friends to try new items.

The report said 20% of people in this age group have tried e-cigarettes, with cheap, brightly colored disposable e-cigarettes driving the increase, compared with just 14% three years ago.

E-cigarettes are now twice as common among children as smoking. But many people still need to be aware of the dangers of smoking.

As part of its plans to create a smoke-free generation, the previous, Conservative government announced changes to the rules around vapes, including:

• a ban on disposable vapes, to be introduced in April 2025
• a new tax on vaping products, to be introduced in October 2026
• marketing restrictions on vapes to make them less appealing to young people
• increased fines for retailers who sold vapes to under-18s

However, the Conservative Tobacco and Electronic Cigarettes Bill has not become law until Parliament is dissolved ahead of the July general election.

Labour has previously supported the proposals and has said it will introduce its own Tobacco and Electronic Cigarettes Bill if it comes to power.

In its July 2024 King’s Speech, Labour set out its policy priorities and said the bill would:

• introduce a progressive smoking ban to gradually end the sale of tobacco products across the country
• stop vapes being branded and advertised to appeal to children, regulating the flavours, packaging and display of vapes and other nicotine products
• give Trading Standards more power to prevent under-age sales of tobacco and vapes

Activists say the materials and chemicals used to make e-cigarettes, including lithium batteries, make them difficult to dispose of safely. Many people simply throw them away in the trash.

They can be recycled, but research published in 2023 suggests that only 17% of e-cigarette users do so.

An estimated 5 million disposable e-cigarettes are thrown away in the UK every week. This has a significant impact on the environment.

The United States has banned certain flavors such as mint and fruit in certain e-cigarettes.

However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has rescinded its 2022 ban on the sale of products by Juul, one of the largest e-cigarette companies in the United States.

The FDA said a comprehensive review of Juul products is ongoing.

Previously, the company was accused of targeting teenagers and settled more than 5,000 e-cigarette lawsuits in the United States.

Separately, the company agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to end scrutiny of its advertising practices.

In Australia, e-cigarettes containing nicotine are generally only available on prescription for smokers who want to quit. Disposable e-cigarettes are not sold in pharmacies.

New Zealand introduced new regulations in 2023 to ban most disposable e-cigarettes and target flavors favored by children.

Countries such as South Korea, India and Brazil have also introduced very strict e-cigarette regulations, while China has also announced restrictions.

However, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 88 countries do not have a minimum age for purchasing e-cigarettes, and 74 countries have no e-cigarette laws.