Minister Replies to UKVIA
Public Health Minister, Andrew Gwynne, has responded to the UK Vaping Industry Association’s letter asking the government to include the vaping industry in the formation of legislation
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by Dave Cross
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Public Health Minister, Andrew Gwynne, has responded to the UK Vaping Industry Association’s letter asking the government to include the vaping industry in the formation of legislation. Gwynne told them, “He is keen to meet with a range of stakeholders across his portfolio and that he looks forward to working with the UKVIA over the coming months and years.”
The UK Vaping Industry Association wrote to ministers requesting a meeting to discuss how vaping can best support the nation’s smokefree ambitions.
The industry body pointed out:
- there is conclusive evidence that vaping is the most effective way to help adult smokers quit
- that the UK Vaping Industry Association is supportive of both the aims of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill and Labour’s manifesto commitment
- that strengthening the regulatory and enforcement frameworks will ensure the category has the greatest impact on adult smoking rates, whilst tackling the issue of youth vaping
- that the vaping industry is already playing a key role in drastically reducing the number of smokers seeking medical attention for their related conditions
The UK Vaping Industry Association asked for a meeting to discuss:
- The introduction of a self-funding licensing scheme
- Policies that would ensure physical retail environments are not overtly marketing vaping products to children
- Prohibiting undeniably inappropriate flavour names and imagery on vaping products
Andrew Gwynne MP responded to say: “We have made it clear that we will act to make the country smoke-free, and I will do everything in my power to reduce the prevalence of smoking. By taking strong action on smoking, we will deliver on this Government’s mission to improve healthy life expectancy and reduce the number of lives lost to the biggest killers, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases.”
The minister went on to add that vaping is not harm-free, and he holds concerns over the long-term impact of vaping.
He continued that although the government recognises vapes “play an important role in helping adults stop smoking”, he warned that it’s “unacceptable to see increasing numbers of children using vapes.”
*Last week’s ASH release shows declining numbers of children using vapes. The percentage of ‘never smoked’ teens has fallen by over 17%.
The minister pledged: “We have made it clear that we will act to protect future generations from nicotine addiction by banning vapes from being branded and advertised in ways that appeal to children. We will outline our plans to achieve this in due course. Any measures we bring forward will be carefully considered before any final decision is made to ensure that we avoid unintended consequences and strike the right balance between protecting children and supporting adult smokers to quit.”
The minister said he is “very keen” to meet “a range of stakeholders” but goes on to add, “However, I hope you will appreciate that this is an extremely busy time, and I will be unable to commit to a meeting at this stage. I look forward to working with you and your colleagues in the coming months and years.”
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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