ELF bar, one of the UK’s top-selling vapes is stripped from shelves over illegal level of nicotine. ELF bar admits ‘inadvertently’ breaking the law after it emerges products exceed limit.
The amount of nicotine liquid in a vape is legally limited in the UK to 2ml, of which the maximum nicotine strength should be 2 per cent. Elf Bar ‘wholeheartedly apologised’ after independent lab tests by the Mail found its ‘600’ line of e-cigarettes were at least 50 per cent over the legal limit for nicotine e-liquid.
The Mail alerted the MHRA to the findings. Elf Bar initially cast doubt on the Mail’s test process and suggested the products may have been fakes. But a spokesman later confirmed: ‘We found out that some batches of the Elf Bar product have been overfilled in the UK.
With bright packaging and sweet flavours including cola and cotton candy ice, the devices have become popular with children. Elf Bar is used illegally by tens of thousands of children. Anti-smoking group Ash found last year that more than half of the 11 to 17-year-olds who admitted trying vaping said they used an Elf Bar, around 100,000 young people.
Experts described the findings as ‘deeply disturbing’ and warned of a risk to young people illegally using them, which are sold by major supermarkets. After the Mail shared the results of the investigation, Tesco removed some Elf Bar 600s from its stores and Morrisons also launched a probe into the product.
A spokesman for Morrisons said: ‘We are taking this very seriously and confirm we’re working closely with Elf Bar and Trading Standards to investigate this further.’
Tesco added: ‘We have temporarily removed one Elf Bar vape line from sale… whilst the manufacturer urgently investigates these claims.’
(Picture from dailymail.co.uk.)
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