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8th February 2023
03:13pm GMT

A spokesman said: "We found out that some batches of the Elf Bar product have been overfilled in the UK.
"It appears that e-liquid tank sizes, which are standard in other markets [such as the US], have been inadvertently fitted to some of our UK products. We wholeheartedly apologise for the inconvenience this has caused."
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There are concerns about the number of children who are vaping, with products such as Elf Bars marketed in bright colours and a wide array of flavours (Elf Bar)[/caption]
Dan Marchant, Director of the UK's largest vaping retailer, Vape Club and founding member of UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) said: “Disposable vapes – including Elf Bars – are designed for adults looking to quit smoking.
"According to Public Health England, vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking and the NHS is even taking steps to allow smokers to get e-cigarettes on prescription – because they’re so helpful for quitters.
"It’s actually a misconception that vaping is turning non-smokers and non-vapers into vapers. According to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), the proportion of never-smokers who are current e-cigarette users in 2021 was less than 1% (0.7%)."
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There are concerns around the number of children who are vaping, with products such as Elf Bars marketed in bright colours and a wide array of flavours (iStock)[/caption]
But he said that more needs to be done in order to stamp out the rise in the number of children vaping.
Products such as Elf Bars have soared in popularity over the past year, and some believe the colourful packaging and wide array of flavours makes these products particularly attractive to teenagers.
Lab tests found that the popular Elf Bar 600 line had nicotine levels at least 50 per cent above the UK's legal limit (Elf Bar)[/caption]
When asked what should retailers need to do to tighten restrictions on underage children buying these products, he said: "The flippant answer is to stop selling them to kids. Employ a challenge 25 policy and be extremely strict.
"Although we know it is not an issue with a large proportion of convenience retailers, the statistics do show that the majority of underage sales are happening on the high street. If a retailer is aware of another business that is flouting the law, please pass the information on to your local Trading Standards officers who can then investigate.
"Really we need far more help and engagement from the government to help keep these products out of children’s hands, but still, maintain the enormous public health benefits they bring.
"The vaping industry has been calling for a registration or licencing scheme for some time now. The revenue this generates can then be used to fund a mandatory national test purchasing scheme, where Trading Standards will coordinate a ‘secret shopper’ style test on all retailers of vape products (and this could really apply to other age-restricted products too).
"We also need to increase the fines for selling vape products to minors from a maximum of £2500 to a minimum of £10,000. There needs to be a real deterrent that actually encourages the less scrupulous retailers to not risk selling to children."
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