The BBC reported that police in Essex, England, recently confiscated five figures' worth of illegal vape and cigarette products that violators slyly hid.
Under the program dubbed Operation Machinize, police collaborated with Essex County Council Trading Standards, Border Force, and HM Revenue and Customs to bust illegal trade and money laundering schemes.
Perpetrators used trash bins and hidden compartments to hide the 98,500 cigarettes, 105 pounds of hand-rolling tobacco, 3,141 vapes, and over £6,000 (almost $7,900) in cash. However, the operation smoked out the contraband worth a cumulative £60,000 ($79,000) in various locations from Oct. 8-15.
As Detective Chief Inspector Terry Balding told the BBC, "this sends a clear message to criminals — those exploiting legitimate businesses for illegal gain will be found and prosecuted."
The Essex County operation is just one example of global toxic substance crackdowns. While the chemical is being phased out, smugglers are still finding ways to transport potent hydrofluorocarbons (gases used in refrigerators and ACs) through Europe, but officials are tracking them. In Oregon, authorities busted a company that sold defeat devices that enabled more air pollution from cars.
The Essex bust is a small win in limiting a toxic item that targeted marketing, different-flavoring options, and highly addictive nicotine have made popular among even school-age kids. Based on 2024 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, e-cigarettes were the most common tobacco products used by American high school and middle school students. Plus, a survey from Action on Smoking and Health in the United Kingdom found that over 1.1 million (20%) of 11-to-17-year-olds have vaped.
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According to the American Cancer Society, vaping aerosol may be hazardous because of volatile organic compounds. Propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin can become carcinogenic when inhaled. Diacetyl is one flavoring linked to a serious lung disease called bronchiolitis obliterans.
Plus, containers designed as one unit of mixed materials, including circuit boards, plastic, and batteries, make them nearly impossible to recycle. Therefore, they often become toxic e-waste in the trash or litter.
Single-use plastic may take hundreds of years to break down, per the World Wildlife Fund. Discarding lithium wastes reusable mined metal that can power electric vehicles. That battery component becomes a fire hazard when improperly thrown out, especially if crushed in a trash compactor.
At least one environmentally friendly solution is going plastic-free with reusable, rechargeable containers for a vaping habit.
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