The disposable vape ban imposed today could backfire, putting hundreds of thousands at risk of dementia, heart disease and organ failure, a new study has suggested.
According to research involving 750 UK adults, 42 per cent of vapers will consider returning to lethal smoking if all vapes are banned.
Over a quarter of participants also admitted that they have no plans to change their vaping habits, even in light of the disposables ban.
As of today, 1 July 2025, shops and businesses can no longer sell disposable vapes, in a bid to stop young people engaging in the harmful habit.
Breaching the ban could result in a number of penalties across the UK, including a minimum fine of £200 for businesses that sell disposable vapes in England. Repeat offenders will face up to two years in prison.
Trading Standards will also be able to seize any single-use vapes they find.
But, research commissioned by Vape Shop suggests the move risks undermining the Government’s progress towards a smoke-free Britain.
An estimated 5million single use vapes are thrown away every week in the UK.
Roughly one in ten adults are estimated to be hooked on vaping, as smoking rates fall
The new poll revealed that 44 per cent of vapers said they originally started vaping to quit smoking.
Of the 750 vapers surveyed, 27 per cent admitted that they plan to continue vaping, despite the upcoming ban, with 52 per cent already using refillable and chargeable vapes.
Chris Price, E-Commerce Manager at Vape Shop said: ‘These findings show a real risk that following the disposable ban, we may see thousands pushed back to smoking—the very habit vaping helped them quit.
‘With the 2030 smoke-free ambition, it’s important that policy decisions don’t undermine progress made over the last decade,’ he added.
The poll comes as a modelling study conducted by the Future Health Research Centre found that while the ban could see up to 378,000 people give up vaping, smoking rates could sky-rocket.
The model scenario indicated that between 90,000 and 200,000 more people could pick up smoking following the ban.
Richard Sloggett, the report’s author and a former government advisor, said: ‘The Government has committed welcome and strong action to reduce smoking and tackle youth vaping.
Despite the ban, almost 27 per cent of people said they are not planning on reducing how often they vape, despite expressing concerns about the rising cost of vaping post-ban
‘However these findings show that urgent work is needed to ensure that efforts to reduce youth vaping do not have the unintended consequence of increasing the numbers smoking – particularly amongst younger people.
The ban also feels like being a missed opportunity, with hundreds of thousands of people soon to be looking for alternatives to disposable vapes but over half saying they will simply switch to another product.
‘With the ban looming, the Government now needs to get on the front foot, commit to a national mass media anti-smoking campaign and set out more clearly how it will use its forthcoming regulatory powers through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to help ensure that those using disposable vapes do not turn to smoking instead.’
According to Cancer Research UK, vaping is far less harmful than smoking.
This is because, according to the NHS, vaping exposes users to fewer toxins and at lower levels than smoking cigarettes.
Smoking has been linked to at least 16 different types of cancer as well as various heart and lung diseases, infertility and a host of other complication, killing over 8million people every year.
Analysis by the cancer charity found that on average, nearly 160 cancer cases attributed to smoking were diagnosed every day in 2023.
However, research presented by Manchester Metropolitan University earlier this year challenged this, suggesting vapes could pose a similar health threat.
Researchers say this is because vapes allow people to inhale nicotine as a vapour—produced by heating a liquid typically containing a mixture of harmful chemicals and flavourings.
Experts are concerned this high nicotine content increases heart rate and blood pressure, as it does in smokers, making blood vessels constrict and damage artery walls.
In the Manchester study, researchers tracked volunteers, aged 27 on average, all of whom had a similar level of fitness.
They were given regular stress tests to measure the elasticity of their blood vessels and the speed of blood flow to their brains.
Both smokers and vapers achieved a flat reading, signaling they had damaged artery walls that can no longer dilate—an almost certain sign of future serious cardiovascular problems, the researchers concluded.
Further tests proved that the blood flow in smokers and vapers is similarly impaired, making them at risk of developing cognitive dysfunction, including dementia.
Last year, MailOnline also discovered the number of adverse side effects linked to vaping reported to UK regulators has now eclipsed 1,000, with five of them fatal.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 8million people die from tobacco use every year.
