'World's first': Britain to encourage smokers to swap cigarettes for vapes

LONDON - Up to one million smokers will be encouraged to swap cigarettes for “vapes”, with pregnant women offered financial incentives to make the change in what will be a world's first, the British government said on Tuesday (April 11).

Under the scheme, almost one in five smokers will be given a vape – an e-cigarette – starter kit along with support to help quit smoking, the Department of Health said.

Pregnant women will also be offered vouchers to help them kick the habit as part of the government’s target of reducing the number of smokers to five per cent or less of the population from 13 per cent now.

“Up to two out of three lifelong smokers will die from smoking. Cigarettes are the only product on sale which will kill you if used correctly,” health minister Neil O’Brien will say in a speech later on Tuesday, according to the government.

“We will offer a million smokers new help to quit. We will be funding a new national ‘swap to stop’ scheme – the first of its kind in the world.”

Although worldwide average smoking rates are higher than in Britain, tobacco is still the highest preventable cause of death and illness in the country, the Department of Health said.

The government spent 68 million pounds (S$112 million) in 2021 to 2022 on measures to get people to stop smoking, leading to 100,000 smokers quitting, and easing the strain on Britain’s overwhelmed National Health Service.

Vaping, however, has its critics and health officials have warned its popularity among children is exposing them to chemicals whose long-term effects are unclear.

Health service figures show nine per cent of 11-year-olds to 15-year-olds in Britain had used e-cigarettes in 2021, up from six per cent three years before.

The government said it would set up an enforcement squad backed by three million pounds in funding to prevent the illegal sale of vapes to those under 18 years old.

ALSO READ: 'My parents won't know': Teens in Malaysia take to vaping following legal loophole