- UKVIA’s Blueprint for Better Regulation could help country’s seven million smokers to transition to vaping
- Director General John Dunne: slowdown in new vapers a “public health emergency”
A far-reaching inquiry into post-Brexit tobacco harm reduction opportunities – including recommendations for achieving the Government’s Smoke Free 2030 ambitions through increased use of vaping and other nicotine replacement therapies – has been welcomed by the UK’s leading vaping sector trade body.
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Vaping, which describes 2021 as a “pivotal year for tobacco harm reduction in the UK”, took evidence from the vaping sector’s most influential figures, including members of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) and its Director General John Dunne.
In its report, the APPG for Vaping lays out a series of recommendations to the Government to “explore the most appropriate parliamentary and regulatory response to e-cigarettes and to raise education and literacy amongst policy makers regarding e-cigarettes and related public policy questions”.
The UKVIA is mentioned together with its series of recommendations aimed at removing vaping from the same regulations governing smoking, dispelling the mistruths around e-cigarettes and extending regulations to cover other alternatives to smoking.
Commenting on the just-published inquiry report, John Dunne said: “We’re extremely pleased to see a number of our comments and suggestions made during the inquiry’s evidence sessions, together with some of the recommendations contained in our ‘Blueprint for Better Regulation’ document, have made it into the published report.
“The document acknowledges the huge strides the UK has made in recent years taking vaping from a place where it was routinely talked about as being ‘as bad as cigarettes’ to its position today where leading health experts and politicians all agree it is an indispensable resource for helping smokers to quit their habits for good.”
Central to the APPG for Vaping’s inquiry and subsequent reporting is the opportunity, presented by Brexit, for the UK to “diverge from the EU rules (on vaping) to better suit what we need in the UK”.
In the report Mark Pawsey MP, who chairs the APPG for Vaping, adds: “This comes at the time when the Government’s statutory Post-Implementation Review of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations (TRPR) is required.”
Earlier this year the UKVIA’s landmark package of recommendations submitted to the TRPR review panel – and now referenced in the APPG for Vaping inquiry report – included:
- The use of Government-approved expert health claims on products to address misinformation leading to misperceptions on vaping, and therefore encourage smokers to switch
- Greater opportunities to engage with smokers, as current regulations restrict vaping’s ability to provide smokers with evidence-based knowledge to make informed decisions when looking to quit
- The extension of certain regulations to cover additional vaping products, such as non-nicotine e-liquids, thereby ensuring a highly responsible and safe industry
John Dunne continued: “The TRPR review can’t now come fast enough so that we can finally free the vaping industry from being shackled by the same regulations that govern the sale of combustible tobacco products.
“That, in turn, will give consumers the added confidence and reassurance to make the switch from smoking to vaping which we believe could have the added benefit of getting the Government’s faltering smoke free 2030 ambitions – currently around seven years behind schedule – back on track.”
In its report the APPG for Vaping praises the impact vaping has had on reducing smoking figures in the UK but adds “since 2016 the number of smokers making the switch to safer reduced-risk alternatives has slowed, and we have also now seen the number of vapers decline year-on-year…there is little doubt that this has been caused in part by the increased negative messaging in the media about vaping which has fuelled misperceptions about the devices”.
John Dunne continued: “At a time when esteemed health protection organisations such as Public Health England and Cancer Research UK all back vaping as the best and most effective quit method, and the NHS is trialling e-cigarettes for smokers in some hospitals, the numbers of new vapers should be skyrocketing, not tailing off.
“This is a public health emergency and we are calling on the Government to review this report as soon as possible and waste no time in implementing its recommendations for the sake of the seven million UK smokers yet to transition to vaping.”