A new 10-year study is set to investigate the long-term effects of vaping on children and young people’s health, the government has announced.
The research will track 100,000 young people aged eight to 18 years over a decade and collect data on behaviour, biology and health records to explore impact of vaping on health and wellbeing.
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It is being funded by a non-departmental public body of the government – UK Research and Innovation – and comes as the Tobacco and Vapes Bill progresses through Parliament.
The new Bill proposes to make it illegal to sell tobacco or other products to people who turned 15 in 2024 or anyone younger, and aims to clamp down on youth vaping.
Separately, single-use disposable vapes are being banned in England and Wales from next summer.
Minister for public health and prevention, Ashley Dalton, said it was crucial that the government had ‘clear evidence on the long term-health harms’ caused by vaping, especially among young people.
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The new study is one of three research projects being commissioned by the government as part of a crack-down on vaping and to educate young people on vaping harms.
Professor Lucy Chappell, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) chief executive officer and chief scientific adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care, said the research was crucial to ‘protect and support’ the next generation against vaping harms.
‘By investing in important research such as this we give young people, parents, and policymakers the knowledge they need to make informed decisions and safeguard long-term health,’ she added.
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Last November, NHS England announced its relaunch of the ‘improved’ anti-smoking pill varenicline after withdrawal of a branded version in 2021.
However, as our sister title The Pharmacist reported this week, one local pharmaceutical committee (LPC) in the North East of England has ‘strongly advised’ contractors to not participate in the varenicline smoking cessation service.
