The Welsh Government will join both England and Scotland in banning disposable vapes and make it illegal for anyone born after 1 January 2009 to buy cigarettes, reports The Standard.

The Welsh Government has said it would join the UK and Scottish governments in implementing a ban on disposable vapes to reduce the impact on the environment. Furthermore, it will be supporting UK legislation that would increase the smoking age so that those born on and after 1 January 2009 will never legally be allowed to buy tobacco.
“Smoking is the leading cause of preventable illness and premature death in Wales. It causes a quarter of all cancer deaths in the UK and is responsible for 80,000 preventable deaths in the UK of which around 5,600 are in Wales, each year. Whilst vapes can be useful to some smokers in supporting smoking cessation, data shows the number of children using vapes has tripled in the past three years,” said Lynne Neagle, the Welsh Government’s deputy minister for mental health and wellbeing. She went on to say that single-use vapes cause harm to the environment with almost five million being thrown away each week.
“We want to take all actions possible to stop young people from starting smoking in the first place, to prevent youth vaping and to tackle the effects single-use vapes are having on our environment,” she said.