英國禁止向18歲以下的未成年人出售電子煙

Under-18s in England are to be banned from buying electronic cigarettes, the government has announced.

Experts say it is not yet known what harm the tobacco-free devices could inflict and that their contents could be damaging young people's health.

An estimated 1.3m people in the UK use e-cigarettes which were designed to help smokers quit.

Ministers also plan to make it illegal for adults to buy traditional cigarettes for anyone under 18.

'Irresponsible adults'

They want to crack down on the number of young people smoking by bringing the law in line with restrictions on the sale of alcohol.

The new rules could be in force by the autumn and may mean anyone caught buying cigarettes for a child could be given a ￡50 fixed penalty notice or a fine of up to ￡2,500.

"We must do all we can to help children lead a healthy life," Public Health Minister Jane Ellison said.

"That's why this measure is designed to help protect children from the dangers of being bought cigarettes by irresponsible adults - something that I hope concerned parents and responsible retailers will welcome."

Some 41% of 15-year-olds who smoke say they usually buy their cigarettes from someone else, rather than from a shop, according to Department of Health figures.

But while smoking rates have fallen to their lowest ever level, experts fear the electronic substitutes could be encouraging teenagers to take up the habit.

E-cigarettes, popular with teenagers, deliver a hit of nicotine and emit water vapour to mimic the feeling and look of smoking.

"We do not yet know the harm that e-cigarettes can cause to adults let alone to children, but we do know they are not risk free," Prof Dame Sally Davies, England's chief medical officer, said.

"E-cigarettes can produce toxic chemicals and the amount of nicotine and other chemical constituents and contaminants, including vaporised flavourings, varies between products meaning they could be extremely damaging to young people's health."

Car boot ban

The UK currently has few restrictions on the use of e-cigarettes, despite moves in some countries to ban them.

Restrictions have recently been mooted in Scotland and Wales, where health policy is a devolved issue.

The law change for England will be introduced in Parliament this week as an amendment to the Children and Families Bill.

Anti-smoking charity Ash welcomed the changes but chief executive Deborah Arnott added: "We'd also like to see a retail licensing system put in place so that cigarettes could only legally be sold in shops, not in car boot sales and markets."

Smoking remains one of the biggest causes of death and illness in the UK with around 100,000 people dying each year from illnesses linked to the habit.英國政府宣佈，禁止18歲以下的未成年人買電子煙。

專家稱至今還不清楚這種裝置會帶來什麼危害，也不清楚裏面的成分是否有害年輕人的健康。

大約有130萬英國人吸電子煙，因爲電子煙旨在幫助吸菸的人戒菸。

部長們正計劃將成年人給18歲以下的未成年人買傳統香菸定爲非法。

“不負責任的成年人”

他們希望這條法律能與限制銷售酒的法令配合使用，以減少年輕人吸菸的數量。

這項新規定將從秋天起施行，這可能意味着只要被抓到買香菸給孩子的，任何人都將被罰款50英鎊，更高的或將達到2500英鎊。

公共健康部長簡·埃爾森表示，“我們會盡一切可能幫助孩子過上健康的生活。”

“一些不負責任的成年人會給孩子買菸，這也是爲什麼這項措施旨在幫助孩子脫離危險。我希望這項法令將會得到那些關心孩子成長的父母和負責任的零售商的積極響應。”

根據健康部門的數據顯示，約有41%的15歲吸菸者稱，他們通常從其他人手裏買到煙，而不是從商店買的。

但是，儘管吸菸的比率已經降到了最低點，專家們仍然擔心香菸的替代品會使青少年染上吸菸的習慣。

電子煙在青少年當中頗爲流行，電子煙會釋放出含有尼古丁成分的霧氣以模仿出吸菸的的感覺和樣子。

英國醫療部門長官戴姆·莎莉·戴維斯表示，“我們還不清楚電子煙將會給成年人帶來什麼樣的危害，更不用說會對孩子們的危害了。但是我們確信，電子煙的確是有危害的。”

“電子煙會產生有毒的化學物質，一定量的尼古丁以及其他的化學成分和污染物，包括汽化的香料。產品不同，產生的有毒物質也有變化。但是這些有毒物質將會給青少年的健康帶來極大的危害。”

跳蚤市場禁令

儘管在一些國家有禁止使用電子煙的措施，但當前英國缺乏一些法令以限制使用電子煙，

近來，在蘇格蘭和威爾士的這些禁令還處於懸而未決的狀態，在這兩個地方健康政策通常是權力下放的話題。

本週，英國議會將會討論這項法令，作爲對《兒童和家庭法》的修改。

反吸菸慈善組織的阿什贊成這一變化，但是行政長官戴博若·阿諾特補充說，“我們希望看到把零售許可證制度落實到位，這樣只有商店零售煙纔是合法的，在跳蚤市場售煙即是違法行爲。”

在英國，每年都有大約10萬人死於由吸菸引起的疾病，所以吸菸仍然是死亡和疾病的最主要原因之一。