People who vape at outdoor bus stops in the United Kingdom could soon be fined up to £100, under a new law being discussed in Parliament.
Vaping at bus stations and on board buses is already prohibited, but the law would give transportation authorities new powers to fine those who vape in other public areas, such as outdoor bus stops. Failure to pay promptly could lead to an increased fine of as much as £1,000.
This latest proposal comes soon after the country’s disposable vape ban took effect in June, and as the UK landscape generally becomes less welcoming to these harm reduction tools.
George Sweatman, who switched from smoking to vaping a year ago and uses public transportation, sees a contradiction at play. “The government seems to be pushing people to quit smoking by using vaping, whilst trying to restrict the use of vapes in public areas,” he told Filter.
“I understand that non-vapers may not appreciate being around vapor, even if it is not harmful, but I don’t think it’s worthy of a fine,” he continued. “People who vape should be using common courtesy at or around a bus stop, as you would with anything else.”
“If I can vape before the bus arrives, I’m less likely to want to vape on the bus,” Clarissa Harding, another vaper who uses public transportation in the UK, told Filter. “Is there even such a thing as passive vaping?”
There is no credible evidence of vapor from e-cigarettes harming bystanders, as Public Health England reviews have noted—let alone outdoors.
“The fact that it is even under discussion shows how infantile the public debate about vaping and smoking has become.”
Erring on the side of caution, the UK’s National Health Service states that “the risks of passive smoking with conventional cigarettes do not apply to e-cigs,” and that, “Research into this area is ongoing, but it seems that e-cigs release negligible amounts of nicotine into the atmosphere and the limited evidence available suggests that any risk from passive vaping to bystanders is small relative to tobacco cigarettes.”
The UK’s Health Act 2006 banned smoking in “substantially closed” premises or structures, meaning that many bus stops are now smoke-free. Should the new law pass, vaping will be very visibly placed on a par with smoking.
This equating of the two in public spaces could send a damaging message, when most Brits who smoke don’t know that switching to vaping would be far better for their health.
It also seems inevitable that the burden of fines and escalated fines would fall disproportionately on lower-income people, who are more likely to use buses and more likely to have smoked.
British tobacco harm reduction expert Clive Bates, of Counterfactual Consulting, told Filter “there is negligible risk to bystanders” from passive vaping, versus the far greater health impact of people using vapes in order to avoid smoking.
Bates also said he doubted that the proposal would actually go ahead. “But the fact that it is even under discussion shows how infantile the public debate about vaping and smoking has become.”
“Let’s not turn vapers into villains when they already made the hardest switch of all.”
The opposition Conservative Party has also been critical of the plan. Shadow Housing Secretary Kevin Hollinrake accused the Labour Party government of “trying to crack down on vaping without being upfront about it.”
David Donaghy, head of creative marketing at Riot, which sells vaping products, said his company was “fully behind sensible regulation,” but not this.
“Vaping exists to help people quit smoking,” he told Filter. “If we start criminalizing former smokers using a less harmful alternative at a bus stop, we risk stigmatizing quitting itself—that’s not progress, that’s punishment.”
Donaghy urged policymakers to focus on “evidence-based solutions,” including clear guidance, preventing underage sales and public education. “Let’s not turn vapers into villains when they already made the hardest switch of all.”
Photograph by diamond geezer via Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0
