Vapeboss – The UK government announced a scheme to encourage its citizens, especially smokers, to switch from cigarettes to vapes on Tuesday (11/4/2023). In addition, pregnant women were also offered financial incentives to make the change, a world first.

As reported by Reuters, under the scheme, almost one in five smokers will be given a vape starter kit along with support to help them quit smoking, said the Department of Health (DoH).

Pregnant women will also be offered vouchers to help them stop the habit as part of the government's target to reduce the number of smokers to 5 percent or less from the current 13 percent.

"Two in three lifelong smokers will die from smoking. Cigarettes are the only product sold that will kill you if used as directed," said Health Minister Neil O'Brien in a speech Tuesday evening.

"We will offer one million smokers new help to quit. We will fund a new national swap-to-stop scheme. This is a world first," he added.

Although the average smoking rate worldwide is higher than in the UK, tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the country, the DoH said.

The government spent 68 million pounds (84.52 million US dollars) in 2021-22 on local authority measures to help people quit smoking. This resulted in 100,000 smokers quitting, and reduced the burden on the overwhelmed UK National Health Service.

Vaping, however, has drawn criticism and health officials have warned that its popularity among children exposes them to chemicals whose long-term effects are unclear.

Healthcare figures show that 9 percent of 11 to 15-year-olds in England had used e-cigarettes in 2021, up from 6 percent three years earlier.

The government said it would form an enforcement squad backed by 3 million pounds to prevent the illegal sale of vapes to under-18s.

Source: Kompas