Consumer body New Nicotine Alliance (NNA) warned that the government’s ‘all-out offensive’ on vaping will undo years of advances in helping smokers quit.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which cleared its second reading in the House of Commons on Tuesday, could see onerous restrictions on vapes - “the very thing that has helped millions of people in this country to quit smoking,” NNA noted.
“Make no mistake, this is pro-smoking legislation,” said Clive Bates, long-standing smoking and health campaigner and a voluntary public health adviser to the New Nicotine Alliance.
“The government has a range of anti-vaping measures which will worsen the smoking problem: if you raise taxes, impose bans on the most popular products, and prevent the advertising of safer alternatives to cigarettes, then you are protecting the cigarette trade and prolonging the smoking epidemic,” he said.
The government’s consultation document in October 2023 stated that “swapping to vaping is already helping 50,000 to 70,000 smokers in England quit each year - saving thousands of lives.” And the impact assessment on the ban on single use vapes suggests that as many as half a million vapers might revert to smoking as a result, the NNA pointed out.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill proposes to hide e-cigarettes away from consumers, which together with the ban on disposables (the most popular choice) and Rachel Reeves’ ‘eye-watering’ taxes on vaping liquids, will only serve to compound the problem of consumer misperceptions – consumers increasingly and mistakenly believe that vaping is more harmful than smoking, it added.
“We are already hearing stories of vapers returning to smoking cigarettes because they believe that vaping must be as bad as smoking because the government seems to want to ban it. The proposals on vaping products in this bill will only convince more to do the same,” Bernice Evans, NNA chair and a consumer herself, said,
The suggestions for banning flavours are particularly dangerous, NNA said, highlighting the evidence showing that bans on vape flavours increase smoking prevalence, most notably amongst adolescents.
“The proposal to ban vending machines for vapes and other safer nicotine alternatives to cigarettes also seems unnecessary and spiteful, considering they are only sited in hospitals and mental health facilities. It is hard to imagine a policy more effective for prolonging cigarette use,” the organisation said.
“The NNA would like to know who will take responsibility for the avoidable future death and disease which could result from these proposals.”
