Vapes are ‘compromising children’s human rights’ – experts

Vapes are “compromising children’s human rights”, academics have said as they called for more regulation of e-cigarettes to protect young people.

Experts said some children are missing lessons to vape and are unable to concentrate in classrooms due to nicotine dependence.

In a new analysis, published in The BMJ, a team of researchers from the UK, Australia and the Netherlands, highlight how teenagers are “particularly sensitive” to nicotine exposure, which “may have long-term effects on attention, cognition, memory and mood”.

They are also more susceptible to nicotine addiction, which can lead to more problems with addiction and substance abuse in later life, the group said.

Academics, including researcher Tom Gatehouse from the University of Bath, also highlight how vape use “may act as a gateway to tobacco smoking”.

But they said that “governments often overlook the harms to children, influenced by industry claims around reducing harm to adults who smoke”.

They said any potential benefit of vapes is for current smokers who switch to e-cigarettes.

“The potential to increase cessation among this group should not be misconstrued as reducing harm for the population as a whole, and it does not justify making harmful and highly addictive products widely available to larger populations of mostly non-smokers, including children,” they wrote.

They point out that children are now using e-cigarettes at higher rates than adults.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) called for urgent action to tackle youth vaping in 2023, and the academics added: “Such action is not only crucial from a public health perspective but is required by international human rights law.”

They said the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has “helped shape policies affecting the health of children”.

This, along with the WHO’s tobacco framework, “can provide a legal basis for e-cigarette regulation which puts children’s health first”, they said.

Published: 13/11/2025 by Radio NewsHub