Publish Time: 2023-02-13 Origin: Site
The country's leading retailers have stopped selling the best-selling Elf Bar e-cigarettes after a Daily Mail investigation found that the company's products violate the UK's nicotine restriction laws.
Tesco, Sainsbury's and WH Smith have removed all Elf Bars products from their shelves and Morrisons and Asda have removed the number one Elf Bar 600 range from their shelves.
Previously, independent laboratory tests commissioned by the Daily Mail found that the nicotine e-cigarette oil content of the 600 model range exceeded the legal limit by at least 50%.
Health Minister Steve Barclay also faced a question in Parliament from Conservative MP Adam Afriyie about whether he had contacted trading standards about the breach.
Andrew Bush, a professor of pediatrics at Imperial College London, said the Mail's expose was absolutely shocking and that it was incredibly concerning that people didn't know what they were taking.
What is particularly worrying is that with their bright packaging and sweet flavors, the devices have become popular with children - even though it is illegal to sell e-cigarettes to children under the age of 18.
Last year anti-smoking group Ash found that more than half of 11- to 17-year-olds who admitted to trying an e-cigarette - about 100,000 young people - said they used an Elf Bar.
The Chinese manufacturer, which only launched in 2021, sells 2.5 million Elf Bar 600s in the UK each week, accounting for two-thirds of all disposable e-cigarettes. The devices typically sell for about £6 each.
In the UK, the amount of nicotine liquid in e-cigarettes is limited by law to 2ml, where the maximum nicotine strength should be 2%.
The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 state that this limit was introduced to create an environment that protects children from starting to use these products.
But the Mail commissioned tests on three flavors of Elf Bar 600 bought at Sainsbury's, Tesco and Morrison's branches in London, Derby and Sheffield and found they contained nicotine levels of between 3ml and 3.2ml.
An Elf Bar spokesperson later wholeheartedly apologized and confirmed: We found that some batches of Elf Bar products had been overfilled in the UK. Other market standard e-liquid tank sizes appear to have been inadvertently installed on some of our UK products.
Elf Bar insisted that the highly regrettable situation "did not compromise the safety of the product.
After we shared our findings with the Department of Health, it notified Trading Standards so they could investigate and take appropriate action.
An Asda spokesperson said: "We can confirm that Asda is discontinuing the sale of Elf Bar 600 flavour while we await the outcome of the investigation.
WH Smith said all styles of Elf Bar have been taken off the shelves.
We have removed all Elf Bar products from our stores while our supplier investigates the matter further, a Sainsbury's spokeswoman said.
As part of our ongoing investigation into the trade compliance of the Elf Bar 600 disposable e-cigarette, we have decided to stop selling all flavored variants, said a Morrisons spokesperson.
"Products will only be returned for sale if stock is available in full compliance with UK legislation."
Tesco has temporarily removed all Elf Bar vape product lines from supermarkets and its one-stop chain while the manufacturer's investigation is ongoing.
Elf Bar also produces the UK's second best-selling disposable e-cigarette, Elf Bar Lost Mary. The Daily Mail has not tested these products.