Vaping industry representative defends bubblegum-flavoured products

A vaping industry representative has defended the use of vapes with sweet flavours like bubblegum, saying “adults like flavours just as much as young people do”.

John Dunne, director general UK Vaping Industry Association, told MSPs that he drank bubblegum flavour gin in order to illustrate his point.

However, MSPs on Holyrood’s Health Committee were sceptical of the industry’s efforts to make their products less attractive to children.

MSPs were scrutinising Holyrood’s consent for UK legislation called the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

The UK-wide legislation will mean youngsters born on or after January 1 2009 will never legally be able to buy cigarettes.

It also includes new powers to regulate the display, contents, flavours and packaging of vapes and nicotine products.

The Scottish Government also intends to ban the sale of single-use vapes from April 1 2025.

Sales of vapes to under-18s are already illegal but there are concerns sweet-flavoured products are leading to children taking up vaping.

Health Committee convener Clare Haughey asked Mr Dunne why vapes with flavours like candyfloss and bubblegum are on the market, as well as bright and colourful packaging.

He said: “I’m 57 years of age, I like bubblegum flavour gin for instance, and I have candyfloss flavoured vodka in my home.

“Adults like flavours just as much as young people do.”

Green MSP Gillian Mackay said she had Googled some of the UK Vaping Industry’s members and found they were selling flavours “clearly targeted at children” – including one which appeared to reference Supermix, a type of Haribo pack.

Mr Dunne said his organisation had encouraged its members to introduce “blander” packaging and remove child-friendly names.

He claimed that the issue of youth vaping had been around for two or three years, whereas the flavoured products have been available for longer.

Dr Garth Reid, a consultant at Public Health Scotland, later told the committee: “We know that flavours are something that entice children to start vaping.”

Sheila Duffy, chief executive of the campaign group ASH Scotland, said the issue of advertising to children needed to be dealt with “urgently”.