iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
Tens of thousands lined the streets of capital Dili, waving Vatican-coloured flags and umbrellas while screaming as the 87-year-old was driven through the streets flanked by security
KT APPDOWNLOAD
UK doctors urge govt to act over 'vaping epidemic'
Vape use among children and young people has increased almost six-fold in the last decade, says report
Disposable vape electronic cigarettes on display at a shop in Liverpool, north-west England. AFP File Photo
Leading UK doctors urged the government Wednesday to pass legislation to tackle "a vaping epidemic", in particular among young people, by banning disposable e-cigarettes and all flavours apart from tobacco.
The call came alongside the publication of a British Medical Association (BMA) report which it said was a "blueprint" for the "bold actions needed".
The previous Conservative government unveiled plans earlier this year to eventually phase out smoking, alongside banning disposable e-cigarettes and restricting their flavours and packaging.
The new Labour administration -- which swept to power early last month -- has revived the draft legislation but is yet to detail its exact approach.
The BMA report noted that vape use among children and young people has increased almost six-fold in the last decade.
It implored the government not to "shy away from taking brave action" in order to "stem the trend".
"There is no denying we are living in a vaping epidemic," Professor David Strain, chair of the BMA's board of science, said in comments accompanying the report's release.
He noted one in 10 adults now vape, while calling the six-fold increase in those aged between 11 and 17 who now vape "far more worrying".
"As a doctor, I understand the role vapes can play in helping people to stop smoking, but they have no rightful place in our children and young people's lives," Strain added.
"An industry so obviously targeting children with colours, flavours and branding, to push a product that can lead to nicotine addiction and potential further harms cannot be allowed to happen any longer."
The report recommends banning all disposable vape and non-tobacco flavour sales, as well as using imagery, colouring and branding on packaging and devices.
That would mirror current restrictions on cigarettes.
The BMA also wants curbs on advertising and marketing, and rules keeping vapes behind retail counters and not on display.
Meanwhile, it is recommending government education campaigns on the dangers of vapes to reduce their appeal, especially among youngsters.
"We are calling on ministers to take bold and brave actions that will make a real difference," Penelope Toff, the BMA's public health medicine committee head, said.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said marketing vapes to children and young people was "utterly unacceptable".
The spokesperson said planned legislation will outlaw the practice while "regulating flavours, packaging, and changing how and where they are displayed in shops".
More news from World
More than 600 people were killed in the weeks leading up to Hasina's ouster, according to a preliminary United Nations report
Some 1.5 million people were still without electricity on Monday and a major bridge across the swollen and fast-moving Red River collapsed in northern Phu Tho province
The attack also wounded at least 15 others
The protests started across Japan, Australia, Taiwan and Singapore, before spreading to cities in several European countries and to the US
The patient has been isolated in a hospital and is in a stable condition, according to the health ministry
The 87-year-old pope is visiting Papua New Guinea as part of his ambitious 12-day, four-country tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania, the longest of his 11-year-old papacy
Authorities were searching for Joseph Couch, considered a person of interest in the shooting that temporarily closed I-75 in both directions