Sales of illegal and unregulated vapes are rampant in the constituencies of the Prime Minister and Health Secretary, a We Vape investigation has found.
Campaign group We Vape’s founder, Mark Oates, was able to buy devices with nicotine strengths of 5% - two and a half times the limit of 2% - in Sir Keir Starmer’s Holborn & St Pancras and Wes Streeting’s Ilford North. Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s Tottenham constituency is also a hotbed of illegal vapes, with five being bought in less than 30 minutes.
The findings come as the Prime Minister prepares to announce the finalised Tobacco and Vapes Bill, where he is expected to introduce further restrictions on vapes and flavours. We Vape’s investigation found products with more than six times the capacity of the legal limit, as well as brightly coloured vapes “clearly marketed for children,” it said.
Perhaps more disturbingly, according to Oates, traders openly admitted that they could make massive profits from selling such lines, and one even boasted that he was making sales of several hundred pounds per day as he operated with apparent impunity.
“The ease with which I was able to buy illegal vapes in the Prime Minister and Health Secretary’s own constituencies is shocking and shows that not enough is being done to stop them getting on the shelves in the first place,” said Mark Oates. “I’ve been able to stroll into shop after shop, ask for the strongest vape and be sold something already illegal, throughout the day. Most traders barely hide it, they are so emboldened by the lack of enforcement by Trading Standards.”
Labour has openly waged war on vaping, with Health Secretary Wes Streeting saying more laws are needed to properly police the industry. But Mark Oates is critical, saying: “Removing the product does not remove the demand and dealers are chomping at the bit at further bans. Labour must understand vaping is a vital tool in helping people stop smoking but illegal products and child access must be stopped by enforcement of the laws we already have, not by creating more that help illicit traders and reduce access to products for smokers trying to quit.”
We Vape is calling for pre-market checks on all vapes, a licensing system similar to that with alcohol whereby retailers pay a fee to sell vapes, and a protection of the flavours available to assist choice when quitting.
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