Industry Boss Says BMA Is “Deluded”

John Dunne said, “The UKVIA agrees that stronger measures are needed to cut off the supply of youth vaping and illicit products, however, actions laid out in this report would sooner supercharge the black market and push the nation’s smokefree ambitions further out of reach by deterring adult smokers from making the switch and driving current vapers into the hands of underground sellers or back to cigarettes.

“The BMA undersells the quitting power of vapes when it says the reduced risk alternative ‘can be useful in helping some people to stop smoking’. The latest data from leading public health charity Action on Smoking and Health UK found more than half of ex-smokers in Great Britain who quit in the past five years used a vape in their last attempt – ASH also reports that current and ever use of vapes amongst 11-17-year-olds has decreased since last year.

“A ban on all non-tobacco flavours, as advocated by the BMA, would be counter-productive, with the Royal College of Physicians recently warning flavours are an ‘integral part’ of the effectiveness of vaping as a quit aid – this is also reinforced by the findings of a Freedom of Information investigation conducted by the UKVIA. The soon-to-be-released data reveals that, of 31 surveyed stop smoking services across England, more than nine in ten provide flavoured vaping products as a quitting tool and that fruit options were most often recorded as, or amongst, the most popular choices for adult smokers.

“The industry does recognise that action should be taken to prevent youth appealing products from ever making it to the shelves and has long campaigned for the government to adopt a balanced set of flavour name, descriptors and packaging guidelines.

“If the BMA wants to see underage and illicit vape sales stopped, it should join the industry in calling for the introduction of a first-of-its-kind licensing scheme which would prevent inappropriate businesses – including sweet shops – from selling these products, bring into play stronger penalties for those caught flouting the law and generate upwards of £50 million in annual, self-sustaining funding which could be used to empower under resourced Trading Standards.

“With regards to future public education campaigns, the BMA should be supporting initiatives that raise awareness of how adult smokers can benefit from considerably less harmful alternatives to conventional cigarettes, such as compliant vapes, which will save the NHS millions of pounds in not having to care for those suffering from smoking related conditions, a cost which is estimated to be some £2.6 bn a year.”

Click here to read the full vape retail and distributor licensing scheme.

Speaking on BBC Radio Merseyside, John Dunne went on to add that the British Medical Association was ‘deluded’ if it thought banning all non-tobacco flavours would help adult smokers quit.

He said: “Vapes are by far the most popular way for adult smokers to quit in the UK. Saying that the only flavour which should be available is tobacco is like sending an alcoholic into a pub. The BMA is absolutely deluded if it wants to ban all flavours.

“If the BMA is calling for only tobacco flavours to be used then why does nicotine gum – which has massively failed to allow smokers to quit – come in bright packaging and multiple flavours? It does not even come in tobacco flavour anymore because people do not want to use tobacco flavour.

“Why would you want someone who is coming away from tobacco to be reminded, every time they vape, that they are a smoker? That is only dooming them to failure. When people move away from smoking, they use flavoured products so as not to associate vaping with either cigarette smoking or tobacco.”

“The UKVIA has been calling for years for the UK vape regulator to have new powers to refuse authorisation for products with packaging, design or imagery which would appeal to children.

“We want fines of at least £10,000 for anyone who sells to children and we want the government to introduce a licensing scheme for every wholesaler and retailer who wants to sell vapes and this must include robust age verification processes to allow them to do so.

“The Government must consider the scientific evidence behind vaping when making new regulations and must not simply take what they consider to be the moral high ground. It is easy to introduce bans and flavour restrictions but everywhere this has been tried, these measures fail miserably and serve only to send vapers back to smoking.”

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.