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** 16 January 2026
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** UK
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** Convenience stores lead sales of high-capacity vape devices (#1)
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** Vet claims vaping indoors can cause risks to pets (#2)
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** International
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** British American Tobacco to close South African cigarette factory (#3)
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** Parliamentary activity
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** Written Answers (#4)
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** Link of the Week
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** South East Smokefree Alliance – Stop Smoking, Feel Happier campaign (#5)
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** UK
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** Convenience stores lead sales of high-capacity vape devices

Market data from Circana indicates that UK convenience retailers are the main sales channel for high-capacity vaping products that offer more than 600 puffs. Data covering June to October 2025 shows an increase of 17.7% in value sales of ‘big-puff’ devices, with convenience stores selling up to six times more of these devices than supermarkets over the same period.

Source: Better Retailing, 15 January 2026

Editorial note: This article has been included to provide insight into market trends and industry developments.
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** Vet claims vaping indoors can cause risks to pets

Veterinary surgeon Catherine Burke has claimed that using e-cigarettes inside the home can pose health risks to animals. Burke also raised concerns about accidental poisoning if pets chew or ingest vape devices, liquids or batteries. The article references a study published in the Journal of Small Animal Practice that reviewed 300 cases of dogs exposed to e-cigarettes that found one fatality.

Source: The Sun, 15 January 2026

Editorial note: This article is based on opinions expressed by a vet and no evidence is cited for most of the claims in the article. Burke also conflates the risk from secondhand tobacco smoke and e-cigarette vapour. The one study ([link removed]) cited in the article concluded that contact with e-cigarettes or refill liquids rarely leads to serious illness in dogs and found that the majority of affected dogs showed no symptoms or only minor, short-lived effects – this is not made clear in the Sun write up. There is very little research looking at the impact of vaping on pets but the main risk of harm appears to be from them eating vape components, such as tanks and batteries.

See also: N. Bates et al.Electronic cigarette or e-liquid (vape liquid) exposure in dogs: 321 cases (2011-2024) ([link removed]) . Journal of Small Animal Practice. July 2025.
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** International
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** British American Tobacco to close South African cigarette factory

British American Tobacco has announced plans to shut its only cigarette manufacturing facility in South Africa, citing the illicit tobacco trade as the reason for the closure. The closure is scheduled for the end of 2026 and is expected to affect around 230 workers.

Source: Business Insider Africa, 15 January 2026

Editorial note: This article has been included to provide insight into market trends and industry developments.
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** Parliamentary activity
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** Written Answers

Asked by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, Labour, Suffolk Coastal

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities are able to act swiftly where there is evidence of illegal tobacco or vaping products being sold on high streets.

Answered by Ashley Dalton, Minister for Public Health and Prevention, Labour, West Lancashire

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will strengthen enforcement and crack down on rogue retailers selling illegal tobacco and vaping products. The bill enables ministers in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland to introduce a licensing scheme for the retail sale of tobacco, vapes, and nicotine products, and enables the introduction of a new registration system for tobacco, vape, and nicotine products that are sold on the United Kingdom’s market. This will help ensure products are compliant with product safety and standards requirements and enable Trading Standards to remove non-compliant products from the market quickly and efficiently.

Alongside the bill, the Government has announced £10 million of new funding in 2025/26 to Trading Standards, to support the enforcement of illicit and underage tobacco and vape sales in England, and the implementation of the measures in the bill. This funding is being used to boost the Trading Standards workforce by recruiting 94 new apprentices. This will provide greater workforce capacity, enabling swifter enforcement action against illicit activity.

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** Asked by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, Labour, Suffolk Coastal

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of underage access to vape products on young people’s health.

Answered by Ashley Dalton, Minister for Public Health and Prevention, Labour, West Lancashire

The health advice is clear, that whilst vapes can be an effective quit aid for adult smokers, children and young people should never vape.

The leading health risk to children and young people from vaping is nicotine addiction, and evidence suggests that young people may be more susceptible to the effects of nicotine. There are also potential health risks associated with the other ingredients in vapes which when overheated may produce toxic compounds. Vaping is associated with health problems such as asthma, coughing, and poor mental health, and is linked to other risky behaviours, such as drug use. Evidence on the longer-term health effects of vaping are still emerging.

To address this, the Government is progressing the Tobacco and Vapes Bill through Parliament, which includes a package of measures that will protect young people from the known and emerging harms of nicotine and vaping products. To better understand the longer-term effects of vaping on young people, the Government has commissioned a significant package of research including a £62 million research project funded by UK Research and Innovation.
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** Asked by Kevin Hollinrake, Conservative, Thirsk and Malton

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 15 December 2025 to Question 97528 on Electronic Cigarettes: Public Houses, whether a pub vaping ban would constitute a material change of circumstances for the purposes of the Valuation Office Agency’s valuation of pubs.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Labour, Chipping Barnet

A vaping ban in pubs would not constitute a material change of circumstance that would impact the rating assessment of a property.

Section 14 of the Non-Domestic Rating Act 2023(opens in a new tab) ([link removed]) in England, and in Wales, The Valuation for Rating (Prescribed Assumptions) (Wales) ([link removed]) Regulations 2023(opens in a new tab), determined that any subsequent changes to legislation, government advice or policy could not be taken into account when determining the rateable value of a property.
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** Asked by Jim Shannon, Democratic Unionist Party, Strangford

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of health inequalities associated with a) asthma and b) chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.

Answered by Ashley Dalton, Minister for Public Health and Prevention, Labour, West Lancashire

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is aware of the disproportionate impact that asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) have on deprived communities. The Government is acting on smoking, air pollution, and poor housing that will particularly benefit such communities.

Smoking is the number one preventable cause of COPD. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will be the biggest public health intervention since the 2007 indoor smoking ban and will help deliver our ambition for a smoke-free United Kingdom.

Poor air quality can exacerbate COPD and asthma. To address this, DHSC is working across Government with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to tackle air pollution, and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to fix housing and reduce damp and mould. Infections can also exacerbate COPD and asthma, so the National Health Service is running winter vaccine campaigns against respiratory infections including COVID-19, flu, and pneumococcal disease.

To enable faster diagnosis of asthma and COPD and earlier access to treatment, access to spirometry tests in community diagnostic centres (CDCs) is growing and will continue to do so as more sites come online. The first five months of 2025/26 saw an increase in CDC spirometry testing of approximately 2000 tests per month more than in the previous year.
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** Link of the Week
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** South East Smokefree Alliance – Stop Smoking, Feel Happier campaign

The South East Smokefree Alliance have launched their Stop Smoking, Feel Happier campaign aiming to dispel the myth about smoking as a way of relieving stress. The campaign is built on evidence that stopping smoking can make you happier. The campaign includes advertisements, a series of films and animations, and a local roadshow.
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.

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