Derbyshire council calls for ban on candy floss, bubble gum, ice cream and lemonade vapes

Central Government is asking councils for their views on new plans for a so-called “smoke-free generation” including significant restrictions on vape products and bans on selling tobacco products to anyone aged 14 and above.

Derbyshire County Council supports the new plans and says this should include a ban on vape flavours such as candy floss, bubble gum, salted caramel, ice cream, and lemonade, and consider bans on fruit flavours too. The plans from central Government would make it an offence to sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009.

In effect, the law will stop children turning 14 this year or younger from ever legally being sold tobacco products – raising the smoking age by a year each year until it applies to the whole population.

It would also restrict the flavours of vapes, bring in plain standardised packaging, and restrict the sale of disposable vapes. Councils would be able to hand out fines for selling tobacco products and vapes to underage residents.

The county council says that as of 2022 around 14 per cent of Derbyshire adults (90,000 people) smoke, which is above the national average of 12.7 per cent. Meanwhile, although reducing, 11.8 per cent of Derbyshire adults smoke during pregnancy, above the national average of 9.1 per cent.

The county council says smoking is responsible for 3,000 deaths in Derbyshire every year, along with 8,000 hospital admissions, costing £259 million in “lost productivity, health and social care costs and fires”.

Its official response, attributed to Cllr Carol Hart, cabinet member for health, details: “Clear and precise regulations limiting how the vape is described would enable enforcement officers to remove non-compliant products from the shelves while ensuring that flavoured products are still available for smokers looking to quit.

“This aligns with the approach taken in New Zealand where regulations require that vapes are described with legally specified generic names such as tobacco or berry and that vapes cannot be called ‘blueberry muffin’.

“This may reduce the appeal of vapes to young people, whilst still facilitating a choice for adult smokers. Limiting ingredients or characterising flavours would require product testing before enforcement activity could be undertaken and would increase the time and cost significantly.

“We recommend that any flavours which refer to products which do not fit into one of the categories above (tobacco, mint, menthol and fruit) are banned e.g. candy floss, bubble gum, salted caramel, ice cream, lemonade. Whether this should include fruits or not, should be predicated on further research.

“Flavours are not the only factor influencing e-cigarette uptake and continued use. Nicotine content, marketing and advertising, design, peer-group influence and behaviour, price, availability, and accessibility are also factors. Although there is a clear link between youth use and flavours, it is unclear just how big a part flavours play.

“On balance, restrictions on flavours should be implemented but more research is required to show whether any particular flavours are having particular effects with children as opposed to potentially preventing adult smokers looking to quit.”

In June, Ellie Houlston, the county council’s public health director, said the “clear” targeting of vapes to under-18s through flavourings and coloured packaging was “totally unacceptable”.