Ministers urged to deploy biometric age verification to address underage vaping

Ministers have been urged to deploy a biometric age verification solution to address the issue of underage vaping.

The company IKE Tech says it has developed a technological solution to mandate continuous age verification on vapes.

It comes as the government is set to bring the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to Parliament which proposes to gradually raise the age people can legally be sold tobacco, make vape packaging less attractive to children and introduce a vape and tobacco licensing scheme.

But IKE has argued that although current measures in the Bill will help reduce underage vaping, it will not end it.

Their product, they say, is an age and biometric verification platform which could see each vape on sale in the UK market include a bluetooth chip acting as a ‘childlock’.

IKE said this would mean any vape an under-18 tried to use will not turn on unless they are age-verified, via an app connected to the chip partnered with global identity authenticators.

Underage vaping access

Jason Carignan, IKE managing director, said: “The government has the opportunity to pave the way for tech solutions that will have a transformative impact on tackling underage access to vaping products.

“It’s the right time to do so given youth vaping has nearly tripled in the last four years in Britain. The industry is ripe for technological disruption to cut short this problem, and continuous age-verification at the point of use can be delivered at no cost to the taxpayer.”

While health psychologist Sairah Salim-Sartoni said: “Adult smokers need access to tools like vaping products to help them move away from combustible cigarettes – the UK’s deadliest killer – while ensuring that it doesn’t get into the hands of young people.

“If technology can play an important role in achieving this goal, then it is right that the government considers legislative options to enable this.”

The Department for Health and Social Care has been contacted for comment.