Parliament and Politics
News about vaping and tobacco harm reduction from the Houses of Parliament
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by Dave Cross
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Conservative peer Lord Howard of Rising asked Her Majesty's Government what assessment has been made of the relative harms caused by smoking, and vaping.
Lord Kamall told him: “Smoking remains the single largest cause of preventable deaths – and it is estimated that two out of three lifelong smokers will die from smoking. In 2019/20, smoking was responsible for 448,030 hospital admissions, and roughly 64,000 deaths a year between 2017 and 2019.
“Although vaping is not risk free, the evidence is increasingly clear that UK regulated e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful to health than smoking tobacco. E-cigarettes are an effective tool in helping smokers to quit, especially when combined with support from local Stop Smoking Services.”
Lee Anderson asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care what has happened to the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations review and when can we expect to see it. The TRPR has suffered from frequent delays.
Responding, Public Health Minister Maggie Throup said: “The Department will publish its response to the post implementation review of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016, as well as the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products 2015, early this year. The review reports are currently with the Regulatory Policy Committee, and we await the conclusion of their process. Following these reviews, the Department will consider the need for any regulatory changes.”
Greg Smith wanted to know what the Office for Product Safety and Standards is doing to producers, importers or distributors who sell unsafe or non-compliant e-cigarette and refill container products.
Maggie Throup replied: “The Department of Health and Social Care is the responsible department for the regulation of e-cigarettes. The Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, through the Office for Product Safety and Standards, does not have a role in compliance or enforcement of e-cigarettes.
“The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 introduced e-cigarette product and safety standards, with a duty to notify the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of any product which is to be placed on the United Kingdom market. Non-compliant products are subject to local trading standards enforcement measures. The Department works with the MHRA, Trading Standards and other regulatory enforcement agencies to ensure that products sold in the UK comply with regulations for all e-cigarette products and that non-compliant products are removed from the market.”
Finally, Antony Higginbotham asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he has assessed “the potential merits” of placing an additional tax on vaping products and other non-tobacco nicotine products.
Exchequer Secretary Helen Whately told him: “The Government has no current plans to apply an excise duty to non-tobacco nicotine or vaping products. We believe these are an effective way of encouraging smokers to switch to less harmful alternatives. Non-tobacco nicotine and vaping products are currently subject to the standard rate of VAT at 20%. Medicinally regulated products are subject to the reduced rate of VAT at 5%.”
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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