Parliamentary Activity
Parliamentary questions asked and answered on the subject of vaping and tobacco harm reduction
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by Dave Cross
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Mary Glindon, North Tyneside’s Labour MP, asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care if he will publish his assessment of the reasons for the risks of adverse health outcomes caused by snus being far lower than smoking.
She followed up by referring to an article in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Patterns of Smoking and Snus Use in Sweden, asking what assessment has made of the implications for government policies of the finding in that article that the availability and use of snus has been a major factor behind Sweden’s record-low prevalence of smoking.
Public Health Minister Maggie Throup responded: “No formal assessment of the article has been made. The Department holds no assessment of adverse health outcomes caused by snus compared to smoking. Snus is banned in the United Kingdom and we have no plans to introduce additional tobacco products to the market. Alternative tobacco-free products are available, such as nicotine pouches.”
Liberal Democrat Lord Jones of Cheltenham asked Her Majesty's Government why they have referred to the Food and Drug Administration's 2016 assessment of the health risks associated with using snus, rather than the 2019 assessment.
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Technology, Innovation and Life Sciences, Lord Kamall told him: “In the Written Answer of 15 November 2021, we incorrectly provided the 2016 assessment of the health risks associated with the use of snus. We have arranged for the record to be corrected.”
Lord Kamall gave him A copy of Scientific Review of Modified Risk Tobacco Product Application (MRTPA) Under Section 911 (d) of the FD&C Act – Technical Project Lead published in 2019.
David Jones MP asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care whether he plans to introduce regulations for the sale of oral nicotine pouches.
Maggie Throup replied: “Tobacco-free oral nicotine products are regulated under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005. We are reviewing the regulatory framework for these products. No assessment of the implications of the British Standards Institution document PAS 8877 has been made.”
Then Jones asked what assessment has made of the implications for government policies of the British Standards Institution document PAS 8877:2022 entitled Tobacco-free oral nicotine pouches Composition, manufacture and testing specification, published on 28 February 2022.
Throup said: “Tobacco-free oral nicotine products are regulated under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005. We are reviewing the regulatory framework for these products. No assessment of the implications of the British Standards Institution document PAS 8877 has been made.”
Jones followed with a question about the steps the Department is taking to help ensure small convenience stores adhere to strict age verification standards for the sale of e-cigarettes and what assessment has made of the effectiveness of the enforcement measures as a deterrent.
Maggie Throup stated: “The Government provides central funding to local authorities in support of local trading standards activity. It is for local authorities to decide how this funding is allocated across local services, including how to combat the underage sale of e-cigarettes. The Department also commissions the Chartered Trading Standards Institute to publish annual tobacco control surveys on trading standards activities. The Department provides advice for small businesses on compliance with age of sale requirements via the Business Companion website.
“We believe that the current enforcement measures are proportionate. However, we will continue to monitor the evidence regarding underage or illegal sales.”
Windsor’s Conservative MP Adam Afriyie asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care if his Department will make a comparative assessment of prevalence of oral cancer amongst (a) South Asian women and (b) the adult population; and if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of creating a product standard for chewed tobacco products as recommended in the 2006 study entitled Levels of toxins in oral tobacco products in the UK published in the journal Tobacco Control, volume 15, issue 1.
Maggie Throup said: “‘Oral cancer in England’, published in May 2020, compared the incidence of oral cancer in Asian/Asian British people with other ethnic groups in the adult population, although it made no specific assessment of prevalence in South Asian women. We have no plans to make such an assessment. No assessment of creating a product standard has been made. Products standards for tobacco are contained in The Tobacco and Related Products (Amendment) Regulations 2016. The Department is due to publish its post implementation review of the Regulations shortly.”
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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