Chris Whitty demands crackdown on kid vaping epidemic

England's chief medical officer has called for a major clampdown on firms who get kids hooked on colourful and flavoured e-cigarettes. Sir Chris Whitty told MPs that there is 'no doubt' companies are designing vapes to appeal to children and branded their actions 'appalling'. NHS Digital, which quizzed nearly 10,000 students aged 11 to 15 on their smoking, drug and drinking habits last year, found that nine per cent currently vape — the highest rate logged since the survey began in 2014 The survey of children, carried out for Action on Smoking and Health, found the proportion of those aged 11 to 17 currently vaping jumped from 4 per cent in 2020 to 7 per cent in 2022. Prevalence of vapes — which can contain as much nicotine as 50 cigarettes — has doubled among kids in less than a decade The King's College London study, commissioned by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities at the Department of Health, said it was clear that vaping is less harmful than cigarettes in the short to medium term and smokers should be encouraged to switch to vapes. The Government's chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty, — nicknamed 'Dr Doom' for his prominent, if gloomy, advisory role during the Covid pandemic — told MPs that more needed to be done to shrink the nation's waistlines One in 10 secondary school pupils are now vape-users, despite the uncertainty surrounding their long-term impact on health The nation's waistlines have bulged over the past 25 years with 64 per cent of adults now too fat, compared to just 53 per cent in 1993.