Wales has tabled plans to ban electronic cigarettes in all public places, in a similar fashion to regular tobacco.
The Welsh Government has described e-cigarettes, which have soared in popularity, as a “gateway” to tobacco and risked “renormalizing smoking”.
Proposals are being made to outlaw giving tobacco to under 18s and to introduce licensing laws for tatooists.
“The bill will mean that anywhere you can’t use a conventional cigarette, then you won’t be able to use an e-cigarette either,” said Mark Drakeford, the Welsh health minister
“It will prevent the re-normalisation of smoking.
“We have worked so hard in Wales to try and bear down on the harm that smoking does – and allowing e-cigarettes to be used in the way they currently are risks undoing the progress that has been made.”
Professor Drakeford said 5,450 people had died in Wales last year because of tobacco-related diseases.
“The Welsh Government has a responsibility to create the conditions which enable people to live healthy lives and avoid preventable harm to their health”, he said.
But the European Society of Cardiology recently warned that while e-cigarettes may be “moderately effective” in helping smokers quit, they needed the same restrictions as cigarettes to avoid uptake by young people and non-smokers.
ESC spokesman Professor Joep Perk said: “Smoking of all types is still, without any competition, the strongest risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
“It beats everything. There has been a lot of research over the past two to three years which makes us very clear that all tobacco use, including the waterpipe, smokeless tobacco and electronic cigarettes, is simply not good for your health.”
Anti-smoking group Ash believes there are now 2.6 million users of e-cigarettes – known as “vapers” in Britain.
