ASH resources on youth vaping

August 2023

Vaping mythbuster

This short brief is to aid responsible reporting of the evidence about vaping and reduce:

• Repetition of misconceptions as conventional wisdom;
• Overstating the evidence, with caveats downplayed or missed out;
• Presenting opinions as facts.

June 2023
ASH in Parliament (28th June 2023)

At the Health & Social Care Committee ASH gave oral evidence urging that the Committee recommend that Government toughen vape regulation by:

1. Making disposable vapes less affordable and accessible: with a £5 excise tax, strengthening the powers of Border Force and HMRC to stop the illegal disposables flooding into the UK.
2. Putting vapes out of sight and out of reach of children: by prohibiting promotion of e-cigarettes in shops, limiting where they can be sold.
3. Putting vapes in plain packaging to make them less appealing to children: prohibiting sweet names, bright colours, and cartoon characters.

Press release and social media

On parliament TV

Transcript of oral evidence

ASH response to the Government call for evidence on 6th June 2023

Backs up the top 3 high impact interventions with the underpinning evidence and a more comprehensive set of recommendations.

Sheffield City Council resources on youth vaping (February 2023)

Smokefree Sheffield, with support from ASH and local authorities across Yorkshire and Humber, have produced a comprehensive set of resources for schools to use:

• Two posters for display in school toilets, classrooms, canteens, and noticeboards: 1, 2
• A short, animated film to start discussions in PSHE lessons, form times and assemblies. Animation also available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/rod4d4yFeaE.
• Classroom presentation for use by teachers alongside the animated film. Notes pages here.
• Teachers Toolkit with more detail to back up the classroom presentation
• Electronic leaflet for parents and carers to share via newsletters or emails etc. Version with pages as spreads available here.

To order and purchase printed copies of these resources or add your council logo contact: smokefreesheffield@divacreative.com

Data

• Headline results ASH Smokefree GB adults and youth survey results 2023
• ASH factsheet: Use of e-cigarettes among young people in Great Britain 2023

See also from 2022:

ASH guidance for schools and colleges to help Designated Safeguarding Leads and others develop consistent, evidence-based policies on vaping.

ASH briefing for local authorities on youth vaping for public health officials and trading standards officers, and also contains useful information for councillors, schools, parents and retailers. The briefing has been informed by advice from vaping regulators, educationalists and academics from the University of Bristol, KCL and UCL. All references are available here.

Youth vaping stakeholder meeting
Summary of meeting of key stakeholders convened by ASH and OHID in August 2022 to consider ways to improve our approach to youth vaping, in the light of the increase in youth use.

Download summary

Presentations to the meeting:

• Ongoing research on youth vaping and gap analysis
• MHRA: post transition update on e-cigarette regulations
• ASA: Regulation of e-cigarettes advertising