IBVTA Presents a 6 Point Manifesto

The Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA) says it, “is intent on working collaboratively with the new Government to ensure that vaping policy, law and regulation is developed in a way which ultimately achieves the shared objectives of reducing youth vaping, while recognising, and not disproportionately impacting the proven role of vaping in supporting adult smoking cessation.”

Responsible Vaping Manifesto calls on all political parties to ensure the following:

1. Vaping must be treated differently than smoking

“While both are addictive, vaping is substantially less harmful. Balance is needed in favour of less harmful products, with proper recognition of the enormity of the difference in harm.”

1. Potential health benefits must be recognised and embraced

“Unintended consequences of uptake by never-smokers, particularly those that are under 18, must be closely monitored and controlled. However, this should never be at the expense of giving the best information to those than can most benefit from vaping. That is, adult smokers that are struggling to quit, and are likely to have their lives shortened by combustible tobacco.”

1. Flavours are vitally important to adults

“Beyond nicotine, flavours are the most important factor in the success of vaping in displacing adult smoking. The assumption that attractive flavours are unnecessary for adult smokers to switch to vaping is a false one. To say flavours have only been developed to attract young people presents a dangerously misleading narrative.”

1. Regulation of single-use vapes must align with public health

“Banning single-use vapes will not solve all issues without full consideration of both the illicit market, and consumer behaviour – primarily ease of use and relative affordability to smokers.”

1. The illicit market can only be challenged with a radical rethink in policy

“At least a third of the market is comprised of illicit vapes. Illicit vapes are unregulated, untested, and are a material threat to consumer safety. The use of cartoon characters, irresponsible flavour names / packaging, youth access through such products, and retailers that stock them require a comprehensive and collaborative enforcement strategy with vital resources for trading standards and related enforcement.”

1. The tax burden on vapes should balance relative harm to smoking

“Any new excise duty should be underpinned by full consideration of the need for sufficient nicotine strength for smokers to quit using vapes, and the environmental impact of vaping’s waste streams. Current HMRC proposals, based on a multi-tier tax with higher excise on higher strength nicotine fail to recognise the opportunity to influence desirable consumer behaviour positively.”

Gillian Golden, the Association’s CEO commented: “As a non-political trade body, we don’t endorse any particular political party or candidate. Every political party needs to take into consideration the massive opportunity that vaping represents in terms of improving public health. In England alone, research points to vapes having helped in the region of 30,000 to 50,000 additional smokers to successfully quit each year since 2013.”

Marcus Saxton, IBVTA Chair, continued: “At such a pivotal point in the run up to the general election, the IBVTA has taken the opportunity to outline our own vaping manifesto. It outlines our ‘key asks’ informed by our own industry expertise and research to help inform and shape any incoming government’s own policy and goals. At this key time in the political calendar, we believe that our up-to-date industry expertise, research and knowledge can be of material value to informing future policy and proportionate regulation and ensuring societal gain.”

References:

• The Independent British Vape Trade Association’s Responsible Vaping Manifesto, in full - https://www.ibvta.org.uk/manifesto/

Photo Credit:

• Parliament photo by Tom Athawes on Unsplash

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

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Dave 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.