Peter Roderick, a consultant in public health at City of York Council, has said, “we must put an excise duty” on vapes to discourage young people from picking up the habit.

In May, a BBC News investigation revealed that confiscated vapes from one college in Kidderminster contained dangerous levels of heavy metals.

The article was followed by government announcements to crack down on rogue firms which target children with free vape samples and a new vape enforcement squad.

In an interview with York Press, Peter commented on the prevalence of vapes, “It is a big issue, and it is also an issue that schools are approaching local public health teams with the most out of everything.”

Earlier in June, Laranya Caslin, a principal in Lincolnshire, gave evidence to the Health and Social Care committee. She explained that vaping significantly impacts education as students are “making excuses to leave lessons to go to the toilet to vape” and subsequently triggering fire alarms, disrupting classes.

Peter added, “There is a large quantity of disposable single-use plastic vapes that are marketed to children and at the price level children can afford.

“The thing we need to do next is tax those products very highly and enforce that they can only be sold to over 18s.

“Some of these products are £3.99.

“If we were to put an excise duty on some of these products, we’d discourage them immediately.

“It’s likely to reduce the issue of children vaping without affecting the use of vapes by smokers.”

A recent study published in Tobacco Control demonstrated that teenagers who vape are at a heightened risk of persistent and heavier smoking later.

Reflecting on the damage that vaping can do to health, Peter said, “My take on it is that the harms of vaping are very much dependent on what you compare an e-cigarette to.

“So if you compare it to not smoking, there is a health harm we need to consider.

“However, if you’re comparing it to cigarettes, it’s hugely less harmful.

“So in either sense, the key message is if you smoke, try vaping to stop.

“If you don’t smoke, don’t vape.

“Particularly with children and young people, the vast majority of them are not vaping in order to quit smoking.”

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