A Scottish Green MSP has called for lab tests on disposable vapes to be made compulsory.
Gillian Mackay is spearheading a campaign to ban single-use vapes, with both the UK and Scottish governments considering their future.
The devices often end up in the hands of children, with Government data suggesting as many as 22% of those aged under 18 in Scotland have tried them.
Laboratory tests on the devices, she said, should be made compulsory, ending a system which allows producers to "check their own homework".
As well as cutting down the harms caused by legal vapes, the idea, the MSP claimed, would also impact on the number of fake devices which are sold.
"The risk to users from unscrupulous suppliers is too great to leave to chance, so we urgently need to get a grip of this ridiculous situation where it is the producers themselves who check their own homework," she said.
READ MORE:
Vapes being used by young girls to suppress hunger, public health expert warns
Children struggle to get through a family meal without vaping
'We must ban single-use vapes now to protect our childrens' health'
"What I am calling for is a UK-wide scheme where independent, verified labs carry out tests to crack down on harmful chemicals and dodgy construction, which could leave anyone in danger on a number of levels.
"There is nothing like enough real checks being carried out and while a potential ban is being considered, preventative action must be taken now, including a licensing scheme for importers to deal with the issue."
An investigation found that vapes confiscated from school pupils contained high levels of lead, nickel and chromium.
Used vapes gathered at Baxter College in Kidderminster were tested in a laboratory.
The results showed children using them could be inhaling more than twice the daily safe amount of lead, and nine times the safe amount of nickel.
Some vapes also contained harmful chemicals like those in cigarette smoke.
High levels of lead exposure in children can affect the central nervous system and brain development, according to the World Health Organization.
An Australian epidemiologist warned a Holyrood committee last year that children who use e-cigarettes can struggle to get through a lesson or a family meal without vaping.
Professor Emily Banks said nicotine dependency was a "serious harm" for young people and "set the scene" for addiction in adulthood.
"We are seeing nicotine addiction in children," said Prof Banks, who is head of the Centre of Epidemiology for Policy and Practice at Australian National University.
The country has banned non-prescription vaping, although she acknowledged that enforcing this was difficult.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here