Tobacco firms have bankrolled scientific papers playing down the risks of children vaping as part of a secretive lobbying campaign to boost e-cigarette sales and try to block public health measures aimed at protecting young people, a Times investigation reveals.
Doctors, scientists and “independent’ activist groups funded by or linked to multinational tobacco companies who sell e-cigarettes have been at the forefront of efforts to ensure Britain retains its liberal approach to vaping and doesn’t follow other countries in imposing bans, taxes or flavour restrictions.
Britain is facing an epidemic of youth vaping, with more than one in five children under 18 having tried an e-cigarette, a 30 per cent increase in a year. In October, a 12-year-old girl urged children never to start vaping
