Vaping could lead to health harms in children and young people and should be made “less attractive” to them, doctors have said.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has reviewed about 81 studies into vaping and said it is linked to higher rates of breathing problems and evidence of harm in babies whose mothers used vapes while pregnant.
The review said vaping should not be seen as a “harmless part of growing up”.
The RCPCH is calling on the UK government to go further in its proposals to place new restrictions around the sale of vapes and suggests limiting the number of flavours that are available.
The review into vapes has been published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood. Experts from the college looked at the studies involving health or social outcomes of vaping on children and young people.
It said vaping had an association with problems including wheezing and couching, poor oral and dental health, poor sleep, mental health problems and eye symptoms.
Co-author of the systematic review, Prof Will Carroll, said the evidence showed “clear links” with respiratory symptoms, nicotine dependence and subsequent cigarette smoking.
“We must act to make vaping less attractive and accessible to children,” he said.
Vice-president for policy of the RCPCH, Dr Mike McKean, added: “Vaping is still a relatively new product, and there is much we do not yet know about its long-term impact on children and young people but a clear and concerning picture is emerging.”
“We need to keep pace with a rapidly evolving market and continue to take action to protect children from nicotine products.”
In July, the government launched a 12-week consultation on the appearance, packaging and display of vapes with the aim of reducing the appeal of the products to children.
As part of the new proposals, packs would need to be plain with strict limits on branding and only simple flavour descriptions like “apple” or “cola” used.
Other restrictions would move vapes out of sight in shops, similar to how cigarettes and tobacco are currently sold.
The 100-day consultation follows the recent passing of the Tobacco and Vapes Act,, external which sets out proposals to create the UK’s first smoke-free generation.
Children aged 17 or younger now face a lifelong ban on buying cigarettes, since it will be illegal for shops to sell tobacco to anyone born after 1 January 2009.
Dr McKean said the new act was “an important step towards protecting children from nicotine addiction, but it must not be seen as a one-and-done solution”.
Prof Carroll said the government needed “to go further and limit the types of flavours available to them as opposed to just their descriptions”.
