NNA Webinar on EU Restrictions
The New Nicotine Alliance hosted another successful Zoom webcast looking at whether UK nicotine consumers can escape forthcoming EU Restrictions
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by Dave Cross
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Clive Bates, a leading global expert in tobacco harm reduction, recently co-authored a letter with the NNA to the Department of Health [link].
Bates began in his trademark inimitable fashion: “The TPD review is lumbering towards a conclusion in May next year. The most visible sign is the preliminary report [link] from the SCHEER scientific committee, which is just a huge overflowing dump of garbage!”
He wondered how the committee could move forward given that criticisms of the report were “absolutely devastating”. Bates continued that we already know that Brussels is being held by the collection of the “hostile” anti-vaping tools of the Bloomberg-financed operation.
“I can’t see them easing off anything, but I can see them trying to get more bans,” Bates continues. “Flavours are the big risk.”
“For those in the UK who think ‘Well, we’re free of all that’: By default, we stick with the current TPD. We don’t yet know…whether we will have the flexibility to depart from EU legislation.”
Clive believes we will have that flexibility but questions whether we will seek to use because of the complexity it creates for Northern Ireland’s borders.
On nicotine restrictions: “If you try to regulate drunkenness but using the strength of the drink you’re drinking you’d be losing something. People don’t drink as much whiskey as they do beer – but you can get just as pissed on beer as you can whiskey!” – Clive Bates
NNA’s Vice Chair Louise Ross works for the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training. She explained there is “huge potential” in the UK being able to avoid Europe’s restrictions.
“Smokers often hope for some kind of magic answer. We saw it in 2007 when Champix came along, people were queuing up to get hold of it. We’ve got a big opportunity to change legislation in this country and make it much easier for people to switch.
“We’re very fortunate that Public Health England is a world leader in this field” – Louise Ross
As someone who used to lead Leicester’s stop smoking service, Louise believes a relaxation in the current regulations would increase the confidence of specialists being able to speak about vaping in positive terms.
The full Zoom webcast is available on the NNA’s YouTube channel.
Related:
- New Nicotine Alliance – [link]
- New Nicotine Alliance webcast on YouTube – [link]
- Clive Bates – [link]
- Louise Ross – [link]
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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