The UK Vaping Industry Association will unveil new research on the expected impact of the UK’s Vaping Products Duty at its July 13 forum, including findings on consumer behavior, smoking cessation, illicit trade, and stop-smoking services. The association will also release results from a survey of more than 3,500 consumers highlighting the importance of flavors, along with Freedom of Information data on flavor use in local stop-smoking services. UKVIA said the findings are intended to inform debate on upcoming vaping regulations, retailer licensing, and enforcement against illicit sales as the UK prepares to implement the Vaping Products Duty in October.
Tag: UKVIA
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Study Claiming Vaping ‘Likely’ Causes Cancer Faces Backlash
On March 30, Oxford’s Carcinogenesis magazine published an article titled, “The carcinogenicity of e-cigarettes: a qualitative risk assessment,” where the authors concluded that nicotine-based e-cigarettes are “likely to be carcinogenic” to users, potentially contributing to oral and lung cancer risk. The authors admitted that the actual risk in humans was uncertain, but said research found DNA damage, oxidative stress, inflammation, and epigenetic changes in oral and respiratory tissues linked to exposure to vape-derived chemicals such as nicotine-derived nitrosamines, volatile organic compounds, flavoring agents, and trace metals.
The article received immediate criticism, beginning with Peter Hajek, professor of clinical psychology and director of the Health and Lifestyle Research Unit at Queen Mary University of London, who said, “The review’s conclusions are misleading. The authors specify early on that they are not comparing vapers and smokers. This allows them to present a detection of any level of a suspect chemical, however negligible, as ‘carcinogenic.’”
The basis of the research focused on studies published between 2017 and 2025.
“This is largely a qualitative review drawing heavily on low-quality studies, including in vitro [study of cells] and animal experiments using unrealistic exposure scenarios,” said Dr. Marina Murphy, senior director of scientific affairs for Haypp Group. “Such studies may demonstrate biological plausibility, but plausibility alone is a weak basis for public health alarm – especially when similar mechanisms are observed with everyday exposures such as cooking fumes, cleaning aerosols, and urban air pollution.
“Studying cells can be useful, but limited in what can be deduced from them. If I were to pour coffee on cells in a lab, they would die. Should I conclude that coffee will kill me? The answer is obviously ‘no!’”
John Dunne, the director general of the UK Vaping Industry Association, said the misinformation in the article does a disservice to the millions of people using vapes to quit smoking.
“The NHS, the Royal College of Physicians, and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, all agree that vaping – while not risk-free – is significantly less harmful than smoking,” Dunne said. “Cancer Research UK, the world’s largest independent cancer charity, maintains there is ‘no good evidence’ that vaping causes cancer. [The report] is exactly this kind of confusion that threatens the nation’s smoke-free future.”
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Industry Mobilizing to Support UK Vapers
The UK vaping industry is mobilizing to support adult smokers and protect access to vaping amid potential regulatory changes. The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) will run the ninth annual VApril campaign in April 2026, providing evidence-based guidance, expert advice, and personal success stories to help smokers switch to vaping. The campaign also aims to raise awareness of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill — which would restrict flavors, packaging, and product displays — and to encourage vapers to engage with policymakers.
Meanwhile, the New Nicotine Alliance has launched the Save Vaping campaign to oppose a proposed public vaping ban, warning it could push former smokers back to cigarettes, create enforcement burdens for businesses, and mislead the public on relative risk. Both campaigns provide resources for vapers to contact MPs, highlight successful quitting stories, and ensure consumers have access to reliable information on vaping as a safer alternative to smoking.
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Expert-Led Campaign Looking for Flawed Vape Science
The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) launched VapeVerify, an expert-led initiative aimed at scrutinizing vaping research amid rising public misperceptions about relative risk. The independent panel — comprising specialists in toxicology, public health, addiction medicine, and regulatory science — will assess new studies for methodological flaws, data misinterpretation, and lack of transparency, with the goal of ensuring policy debates and public understanding are guided by robust evidence. The move comes as surveys show record-high levels of misinformation, with around half of smokers believing vaping is as harmful as or more harmful than combustible cigarettes.
“The VapeVerify panel wants to create an environment where people are armed with the facts so they can make informed decisions, because there is no public health without public knowledge,” said panellist Dr. Marina Murphy, senior director of scientific affairs at Haypp Group, who specializes in chemistry and science communications.
The campaign launches alongside VapeWatch, a media monitoring initiative designed to challenge inaccurate or alarmist reporting on vaping and refer misleading coverage to the Independent Press Standards Organization. UKVIA Director General John Dunne said the industry is at a “crossroads,” arguing that public perception will determine whether vaping fulfils its harm reduction potential. Organizers said the expert panel members are unpaid volunteers and that the twin initiatives aim to counter what they describe as flawed science and misinformation deterring adult smokers from switching.
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U.K. Vape Industry Warns ‘Pride in Place’ Plan Could Backfire
The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has branded Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s new Pride in Place program “seriously flawed,” warning it risks driving ex-smokers back to cigarettes and fueling the illicit vape trade. The plan would allow residents to block new vape shops on their high streets. UKVIA Director General John Dunne said this wrongly equates specialist vape stores with betting shops and other “unwanted” outlets, despite vaping being “the most effective method of helping adult smokers quit.”
Instead, UKVIA is urging the government to introduce a compulsory vape retail licensing scheme, funded by retailers, to keep vapes out of unsuitable venues and support tougher enforcement against rogue sellers. Dunne argued that blocking legitimate vape stores undermines the U.K.’s smoke-free targets and risks strengthening the black market.
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UKVIA Says Disposable Ban Driving Smokers Back to Tobacco
The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) says new research confirms fears that the UK’s ban on single-use vapes is backfiring, with 26% of former disposable vape users now smoking more, returning to tobacco, or buying illicit products. A survey of 6,000 vapers and smokers, commissioned by ELFBAR, also found that over half of adults (51%) wrongly believe vaping is as harmful as smoking, and awareness of illegal vapes has risen to 22%.
UKVIA Director General John Dunne called the figures “deeply worrying,” warning that a blanket ban on disposables undermines efforts to achieve a smoke-free UK. The trade body is urging the government to launch a nationwide public health campaign on vaping’s relative safety, introduce a licensing scheme for vape retailers, reinvest licensing revenue into enforcement, and impose £10,000 fines on those selling to minors or trading illicit products.
“It never made any sense to us to ban this entire category, and now we have concrete evidence that more than a quarter of vapers have either resumed smoking, increased tobacco use, or purchased illicit products since the ban,” Dunne said. “Any one of those outcomes would be bad enough, but all three combined should be deeply worrying and urgent action must be taken to reverse this trend. If these are the numbers we are seeing after two months, then I dread to think where we will be in a year’s time.”
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UK Vaping Industry Sounds Alarm Over Rising Youth Smoking Rates
The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) raised concerns over new data showing a sharp rise in youth smoking. According to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), the proportion of 11–17-year-olds who have ever smoked jumped from 14% in 2023 to 21% in 2025.
While youth vaping rates remain steady at one-in-five, UKVIA Director General John Dunne called the uptick in youth smoking “deeply troubling” and urged urgent action.
“We need a national licensing scheme to crack down on rogue retailers selling age-restricted products to minors,” said Dunne, adding that enforcement is currently “patchy” and penalties are too lenient.
The survey also highlights growing public misperceptions: over half of adult smokers now believe vaping is as harmful or more harmful than smoking, up sharply from previous years. Dunne called for a national campaign to correct misinformation and reaffirmed vaping as “the UK’s most effective quit aid” for adult smokers. Despite challenges, 10% of UK adults—around 5.5 million—now vape.
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New ASH data showing a rise in youth smoking is ‘deeply troubling’ says UK Vaping Industry Association
PRESS RELEASE
The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) is alarmed at new data from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) which reveals a worrying increase in the numbers of young people smoking.
The new data reveals that one-in-five 11-17-year-olds have tried vaping, unchanged since 2023, while ever smoking among young people has increased from 14% in 2023 to 21% in 2025.
Vaping prevalence among adults remains at 10.4%, unchanged since 2024, suggesting the growth in uptake has stalled. With around a quarter of adult smokers in GB never having tried vaping, this is an issue which must be urgently addressed.
UKVIA Director General John Dunne said: “The UKVIA has always been clear that under 18s should not be vaping (or smoking for that matter) and it is deeply troubling to see smoking rates rise, particularly after a long period of decline and especially so among under 18s.
“We can’t afford to wait a moment longer to clamp down hard on retailers who sell age-gated products to minors. This is why we need a vape licensing scheme to ensure compliance with the law, put persistent offenders out of business and act as a deterrent to others.
“Enforcement in the UK is patchy at best, fines are woefully low and rogue retailers will continue flouting the law if they think they can get away with it.”
The ASH data on adult vaping trends shows that misperceptions about vaping harms have increased, with 53% of adult smokers believing that vaping is as harmful or more harmful than smoking. The ASH youth survey revealed that 63% of young people have the same misperception – up from 41% in 2022.
John added: “The misperceptions regarding the relative risks of smoking and vaping threaten to derail the government’s smokefree goals and we need a national public health information campaign to set the record straight.
“The rise in youth smoking experimentation should be a wake-up call for the government. Policies must prioritise reducing youth access to all nicotine products and not come at the cost of reversing progress on smoking rates.
“We urge public health authorities to step up efforts to communicate the clear scientific consensus that vaping is significantly less harmful than combustible tobacco use and remains the UK’s most effective quit aid for adult smokers. Smoking still claims 220 lives every day in the UK and we must bring these numbers down.
“As the UK moves into a new regulatory phase following the ban on single-use vapes, the UKVIA and its members remain committed to working with regulators, trading standards and public health experts to ensure products stay out of children’s hands while remaining accessible and appealing to adult smokers who want to quit.”
On a more positive note, the figures show that 10% of GB adults vape, equal to an estimated 5.5 million people.
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UKVIA Forum Kicks Off
The U.K. Vaping Industry Association’s (UKVIA) annual Industry Forum will take place at the London Marriott Hotel Regents Park on Friday, Nov. 15.The event will feature a program of timely panel discussions, including “Politics in the Spotlight”; “Closing the Trust Gap”; “Adding Consumers to the Conversation”; and “The Balancing Act,” which will explore the best route to further unlock vaping’s potential to improve harm reduction while also protecting young people.
It will also include a panel discussion titled “Killing the Black Market, Not the Consumers,” which will look at how interventions such as a vape retailer and distributor licensing scheme could put a stop to rogue traders for good and bring about a new age of responsibility and accountability for the sector.
“The industry has long been calling for stronger action against the unscrupulous sellers who flout the law and put young people, consumers and legitimate businesses at risk, and we were delighted to see the inclusion of licensing in the new government’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill,” said UKVIA Director General John Dunne in a statement.
“Earlier this year, the UKVIA was involved in the development of a vape retailer and distributor licensing framework, which would prevent inappropriate businesses—including sweet shops—from ever selling these products, would bring into force stronger penalties for those breaking the rules and would generate upward of £50 million [$63.65 million] per year in self-sustaining funding, which could be used to empower Trading Standards.”
This year’s UKVIA Forum will also feature a keynote on the “new era of enforcement” from Kate Pike, lead officer for vaping with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, as well as a Q&A with Orla Menzies, the vaping policy lead for HMRC, and—for the first time—an onstage showcase where five companies will discuss how they are adapting their product offerings and leading on innovation across the sector.
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U.K. Announces Cigarette and Vape Tax Hikes
Image: John Gomez The U.K. government will increase tobacco duties by 2 percent above inflation for the remainder of the current parliamentary session and increase duty by a further 10 percent on roll-your-own tobacco this year, Finance Minister Rachel Reeves announced during the presentation of her budget plans on Oct. 30. From October 2026, the U.K. will also introduce a flat-rate duty on all vaping liquid alongside an additional one-off increase in tobacco duty to maintain the incentive to give up smoking, reports Reuters.
Smokers’ rights activists warned that the plans would backfire.
“Increasing the tax on tobacco above inflation will drive even more smokers to the black market, fueling illicit trade and hurting legitimate retailers,” said Simon Clark, director of FOREST, in a statement.
“It discriminates against consumers from poorer backgrounds for whom smoking may be one of the few pleasures available to them.
“Instead of punishing the low-paid, the government should focus on improving the environmental conditions that drive many people to smoke in the first place.”
The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) described the planned duty on e-liquid as a penalty for smokers seeking to transition to less harmful nicotine products.
“Whilst a flat-rate tax versus one graded on different nicotine strengths is favored so as not to deter smokers who rely on higher concentrations of nicotine when they start transitioning over to vapes, the additional cost of £2.64 (including VAT) per 10 ml of e-liquid is a kick in the teeth for former adult smokers who have switched to vaping to quit their habits. It will also be the highest rate in Europe,” said UKVIA Director General John Dunne in a statement.
“Some 3 million adults are former smokers thanks to vaping, which is strongly evidenced as the most effective way to quit conventional cigarettes, saving the NHS [National Health Service] millions of pounds in treating patients with smoking-related conditions. This announcement today deters adult smokers from considering vapes as a method to give up their habits and hits the lowest-paid who go for more price-sensitive e-liquid options, which currently start at 99 pence and will rise to £3.83, representing a shocking rise of 267 percent.
“For a government that places a great focus on the NHS, it is a nonsensical move to put a severe punitive tax level on vaping when the category has done so much to reduce the number of adult smokers requiring medical attention by being a driving force in the decline of smoking rates to record-low levels in recent years.”