House of Lords E-cig Briefing
The House of Lords Library has published an impartial, authoritative document to Members of the House of Lords about teens and vaping to support them with their parliamentary work
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by Dave Cross
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Titled ‘Vaping among teens: A growing trend?’, it begins by stating: “E-cigarettes are becoming increasingly popular among teenagers who are not former or current smokers. Young people who use e-cigarettes, or ‘vape’, often use small disposable devices that can contain the maximum permitted nicotine concentration.”
The document looks at the research covering potential negative effects of vaping and the government’s position on aiming to prevent non-smokers and young people from vaping.
Are Vape Products Targeted At Young People?
“Research has suggested that e-cigarette use by young people is increasing. A recent study by University College London found that, in January 2022, 15% of 18-year-old survey respondents in Great Britain used e-cigarettes, up from 11% in January 2021. This compared to 8% among all adults.
“The proportion of 18-year-old vapers using disposable e-cigarettes increased markedly over the same period from 1% to 57%.
There is concern that e-cigarette marketing is being targeted at teenagers who do not smoke rather than smokers trying to quit.”
The problem in this section is that the House of Lords Library doesn’t just provide links to published independent research, it is also linking to newspaper articles from home and abroad which could skew opinions from what is factual to sensationalised coverage.
Rather than present a balanced conclusion, the paper allows the reader to draw their own conclusion.
Is Vaping A Risk To Health?
The document states: “E-cigarette use can have negative effects on respiratory health. Research has shown that young people using e-cigarettes are twice as likely to suffer from a chronic cough than non-users.”
It provides a link to some American research, but the link doesn’t work and so the paper is unable to be assessed.
Then the author states: “Vaping can reduce the function of the lungs via disturbance of gas exchange and tissue inflammation.”
This then links to a study that looked at cells in a petri dish and association the findings to the outbreak of EVALI in the United States – something that was unrelated to vaping.
The negative theme continues with reference to nicotine use causing “cognitive and attention deficit conditions and worsen mood disorders, including depression and suicidal thoughts.”
Troubling
Given the government’s positive approach to date of analysing factual information from reliable independent research, this document is a collection of misleading, flawed, and unreliable claims and citations.
If members of the House of Lords are to conduct their role in the making and shaping of laws, they need to be informed correctly. They, and the entire country in turn, have been severely let down by this document.
References:
Vaping among teens: A growing trend? - https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/vaping-among-teens-a-growing-trend/
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous vape companies to develop content for their websites.
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