Vaping: The Facts

Nicotine vaping is less harmful than smoking. It’s also one of the most effective tools for quitting smoking. However, Vaping is not completely harmless and we don’t know yet what the long-term effects may be. Children and non-smokers should never vape.

The recent ASH Smokefree GB Youth Survey on vaping among 11–17-year-olds in Great Britain – 2025 highlighted that it remains the case that most children and young people don’t vape or smoke, and rates of vaping have plateaued both for ever tried and current use. 

However, 20% of 11–17-year-olds have tried vaping, an estimated 1.1 million. This is unchanged since 2023. 7% currently vape , an estimated 400k, with 40% vaping daily, an estimated 160k. Current use has been static since 2022. Ever smoking among youth increased from 14% in 2023 to 21% in 2025, raising concerns. Perceived harm from vaping is increasing: 63% of young people (wrongly) believe vaping is as or more harmful than smoking. 

Smokefree Sheffield and ASH have updated our youth vaping campaign resources, which were first published in Feb 2023 to support schools, colleges, safeguarding leads and parents.

The aim of this campaign and updated resources is to provide: 

• evidence based information on youth vaping 
• to set the facts straight
• to enable young people to make informed decisions and have trusted conversations about vaping

The resources have been updated in line with the ban on disposable vapes Single-use vapes banned from 1 June 2025 – GOV.UK and the Tobacco and Vapes Bill Tobacco and Vapes Bill – Parliamentary Bills – UK Parliament and insights from young people across the country. 

You can watch our short animation here which highlights the key facts:

If you are from a school, college, or are a safeguarding lead, there are a range of resources below you may find useful including:

• A lesson plan for schools with example activities
• A knowledge presentation to support lesson planning and equip teachers to be discussion ready
• A classroom presentation to support discussions and where to access further advice and support
• A short, animated film which can be used in PSHE lessons, form times and assemblies, to start discussions.
• Two posters which can be displayed where students will see them, such as school toilets, classrooms, canteens, and noticeboards. Both digital and printed versions are available.
  

All the resources can be downloaded below.

Vapes as well as cigarettes are age-restricted products – meaning that they shouldn’t be sold to under 18s. But the most common way for a young person to buy them is in a shop, which is illegal. Those who knowingly sell to under 18s don’t care who they sell to and are just interested in making money.

There is also the damage to the environment, with more than 8 million vapes being thrown away in the UK every week or recycled incorrectly. Vapes contain batteries and difficult to recycle plastics that break down in landfills. Vapes should be recycled using a recycling scheme rather than placed in general household waste. Like tobacco and cigarette butts, vapes contain chemicals that can pollute the soil and water.