West Country expert calls for more regulation of refillable vapes
Professor Chris Pudney is making the call after the government announced it will ban disposables
A West Country expert on the dangers of vaping is urging the government to better regulate refillable products, after Westminster announced it will ban disposables from next summer.
On Thursday 24th October Number 10 revealed disposable vapes will become illegal as of June 2025.
In response, Professor Chris Pudney from the University of Bath, says they need to take more action against refillables as well. Earlier this year research led by Professor Pudney found the dangerous and highly addictive street drug spice is often present in refillable vapes being used by school children.
He said: “New legislation to ban the sale of single-use vapes in England focuses on banning disposal vapes, however, our work shows that spice is almost entirely found in refillable devices.
“We therefore urge policy makers to regulate refillable vapes more tightly, alongside the new ban on single-use vapes, so we can start to tackle the emerging threat of children consuming spice."
During his research, Professor Pudney found spice present in vapes being used in three quarters of schools sampled across England.
Hundreds of vapes were tested, which had been confiscated from children in 38 different schools and one in six (16.6 per cent) contained spice. The drug can cause serious side effects including cardiac arrest.
"We broke this news of our research at the start of the summer," he told Greatest Hits Radio.
"What we've done now is try to engage people in government around this issue. We've certainly discussed it with the Home Office and the Department of Health and Social Care, so they're well aware of the research findings."
Bath's MP Wera Hobhouse has also raised the issue in parliament.
"Where we are now is, as you say the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will be coming through, disposable vapes will be banned, but what we think really is, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill is the ideal vehicle, with some amendments, to tackle this issue of drug use through vaping, in schools."
For now, how can children be protected?
Current evidence suggests that vapes available to buy in shops on the high street do not contain spice, but the drug can be present in refillable products available to purchase online.
"One of the issues that we need to tackle is that these things are bought through social media...and it can be just delivered to your house, so you can't really stop people buying it at the moment," Professor Pudney said.
"What parents can do is look out for some signs of, your children vaping a lot, seeming that they can't stop (or) having a real big change in mood or behaviour.
"But something we can tell parents is that these spice vapes are never in these disposables that you buy in a shop, brand names, it just doesn't happen, or it's very rare.
"It's always in these refillable vapes, so if you find your child is using refillable vapes, ask them the question, 'where do you get the liquid from? Where does it come from?'
"And if they say 'somebody's giving it to me,' then I think that's a real red flag and you want to have a bit more of an open conversation with them about do they know what's in it?"