Waitrose has become the first UK supermarket to stop selling single use vapes.
The supermarket said it could no longer justify selling the single-use e-cigarettes as use of the product soared over the past year in Britain.
An estimated 4.3 million Brits are regular vapers, according to a report published by Action on Smoking and Health in August.
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A statement from Waitrose said: “Our move comes as reports suggest that the market growth is being fuelled by the popularity among those who haven’t previously smoked.”
The products it has de-listed were vaping products which contained lithium and was previously sold under the Ten Motives Label.
At the moment no other major UK supermarket has announced it will remove single-use vapes from sale.
Waitrose’s commercial director, Charlotte Di Cello, said: “We are a retailer driven by doing the right thing, so selling single-use vapes is not something we could justify given the impact on both the environment and the health of young people.
“We had already decided it wasn’t right to stock the fashionable bright-coloured devices which are seeing rapid growth, so this decision is the final jigsaw piece in our clear decision not to be part of the single-use vaping market.”
Figures from the Office for National Statistics from November revealed that the number traditional smokers in the UK fell to the lowest number on record last year. This drop has been partly attributed to the increase in vaping.
The ONS said the proportion of vape users is highest among current cigarette smokers at 25.3 percent and ex-cigarette smokers at 15 percent.
In September a report was published examining whether vaping is actually less dangerous than smoking.
The study, which was performed by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, found that the use of vaping products instead of smoking leads to a significant reduction in exposure to toxic substances that can cause cancer, lung disease, and cardiovascular illness.
Unsurprisingly, inhaling chemicals isn’t risk free and there are risk factors linked to vaping. However the NHS does suggest e-cigarettes as an alternative to cigarette smoking.
Mixing vaping and smoking is no better for your health than just only smoking, according to a study based on findings in the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study, which took place from 2013 to 2019.
The long-term risks of vaping are not yet clear.
Gregory Robinson