Parliament
Question and answers about vaping and tobacco harm reduction from the United Kingdom’s Houses of Parliament
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by Dave Cross
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Hendon’s Tory MP, Matthew Offord asked the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate has been made of the number of single-use vaping devices thrown away each week, and what assessment has been made of the implications for the department’s policies of trends in the level of that waste.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary Rebecca Pow replied: “We are aware that the use of disposable vaping products has increased substantially in recent years and are considering the implications of this trend for the environment. We will consult on policies aimed at driving up levels of separate collection of electric and electronic waste, including vaping devices, later this year.”
Offord followed up by asking whether the Department has made an assessment of the efficacy of steps taken by manufacturers of disposable vaping products to reduce litter caused by disposal of their used products.
Rebecca Pow responded: “The department has not made this assessment. All producers of disposable vapes have legal obligations arising from the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations relating to the collection and proper treatment of vapes when they become waste.”
North East Hampshire’s Ranil Jayawardena wanted to know what assessment has been made of the potential impact of disposable vapes on the environment and if the Secretary of State will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the ban on single-use plastics to cover disposable vapes.
Rebecca Pow replied: “We are aware that the use of disposable vaping products has increased substantially in recent years and are considering the implications of this trend on the environment. While there is no immediate plan to ban disposable vapes, we will consult on policies aimed at driving up levels of separate collection of electric and electronic waste, including vaping devices, as part of the review of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations, later this year. Their packaging could also be captured under our reformed packaging extended producer responsibility regime.”
Steve Brine is the next in a long line of ministers attempting to discover where on earth the updated tobacco control plan is.
Minister for Primary Care and Public Health Neil O’Brien told him: “The Government will be setting out our next steps on smoking shortly, but we already have the lowest smoking level on record: it has fallen to 13%, partly as a result of the doubling of duty on cigarettes and partly owing to the introduction of a minimum excise tax. We will be investing £35 million in the NHS this year to ensure that all smokers who are admitted to hospital are given NHS-funded tobacco treatment.”
While this doesn’t provide a date, it is the most comprehensive answer to date and deviates from the copy-paste response everyone else has received previously.
Dr Caroline Johnson is trying to get her disposables ban Bill through the House. She said: “Vaping was designed as a stop-smoking device for adult smokers, but the flavours, colours and disposable vapes have become a fad for children, encouraging those who have never smoked to take up vaping. What are the Government doing to prevent that?”
Neil O’Brien informed her: “My hon. Friend is quite right. It is something that we are looking at very closely, as she knows from previous conversations. While vaping can be an aid in quitting smoking—it helped about 800,000 people to do so last year—we must stop its use being driven up among children.”
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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