Parliament Petition: Don’t ban flavoured e-liquids for e-cigarettes

[Mitz]

I'm a shite wordsmith...anyone have a draft of an email I could edit to send to my local MP?

No point me offering. You can swear just as good as I can.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Hello all,

Here is my letter to my MP:


Dear Mr Williamson,

I am writing to you to highlight the dangerous route that your party seems to be intent on pursuing in respect of effective smoking cessation policy in the UK.

For over a decade, the UK has rightly been seen as a world leader in pursuit of smoking cessation via an approach that, among other policy levers, recognised that vaping is the most effective tool available to aid smoking cessation.

In my own case, I smoked my last cigarette in 2016 purely through switching to vaping. I had previously smoked for 22 years and had tried everything to quit, including nicotine gum, patches, GP prescribed pills and even acupuncture. Nothing had worked until I discovered vaping.

Whilst I understand the need to a) tackle youth vaping and prevent young people from ever starting to smoke or vape and b) recognise and support the need for the industry to become more environmentally responsible, I believe that the way to achieve this is through effective enforcement and regulation rather than draconian bans or the wholly counterproductive idea of a restriction on flavours that the government is clearly considering according to its response to the recent consultation on the matter:

Flavours play a key role in encouraging smokers to try vaping, and according to a recent survey conducted by One Poll, as many as 1.5 million vapers fear they would return to smoking if flavours were banned and 83 percent of vapers claim that flavours have helped them ‘pack in their smoking habit’.

Any government policy that achieved an increase in the number of smokers would be both a nonsense and tragic given the progress the UK has made in recent years.

As a constituent, I urge you to use your influence on Ministers and the PM to urge them to rule out any restrictions or ban on flavours.

I also ask that you lobby ministers to reconsider the proposed ban on disposable vapes and adopt a more balanced approach that prioritises effective enforcement over draconian bans. Whilst I am personally not a user of disposable vapes for environmental reasons, a ban would be counter productive and merely fuel an already growing black market that has not been effectively smashed using existing laws.

An approach more likely to succeed would effectively regulate and tax legitimate products via the distributor and retailer licensing scheme, as proposed to government by the industry.

The scheme would raise money through taxation, effectively regulate the sale of products to adults only and would allow increased funds for Trading Standards to crack down on disreputable vendors. This aligned with tough enforcement of the existing law against the black market would surely be a more effective approach than draconian bans?

I very much hope that you will see the flaws in the direction of travel being adopted to date by the Government, and can use your influence to encourage a rethink and shift towards a regime of effective regulation, taxation and enforcement of the existing law.

Restricting the freedoms of adults is the wrong approach and ultimately counter productive to the overall aim of getting down and keeping down the number of smokers in the UK. Thousands of shops and jobs would be lost via a ban when these shops should be the regulated and licensed way to sell products and avoid them getting into the hands of children.

I urge you to intervene and promote a common sense and effective policy approach on this matter.

Yours sincerely,

 

[P2PLeon]

Very good sir, point across,, although did take about 10 minutes to read, as I am dyslexic.

 

[Toby iVapour]

An approach more likely to succeed would effectively regulate and tax legitimate products via the distributor and retailer licensing scheme, as proposed to government by the industry.

The scheme would raise money through taxation, effectively regulate the sale of products to adults only and would allow increased funds for Trading Standards to crack down on disreputable vendors. This aligned with tough enforcement of the existing law against the black market would surely be a more effective approach than draconian bans?

I very much hope that you will see the flaws in the direction of travel being adopted to date by the Government, and can use your influence to encourage a rethink and shift towards a regime of effective regulation, taxation and enforcement of the existing law.

I do not support extra taxes on vapes at all.

It has even been argued in the past that vapes should be VAT exempt, due to them effectively being life-saving products...

 

[Smokeandsteam]

I do not support extra taxes on vapes at all.

It has even been argued in the past that vapes should be VAT exempt, due to them effectively being life-saving products...

Feel free to make your arguments in your own letter to your MP. I’d be very happy to not pay tax, but good luck getting politicians on board with that

 

[Toby iVapour]

Feel free to make your arguments in your own letter to your MP. I’d be very happy to not pay tax, but good luck getting politicians on board with that

I already have done.. I don't want to make any compromises, or give them fuel for that...
(even though it looks like an extra tax on vapes is probably inevitable)

When contacting the MP, I decided to keep it fairly brief, and only cover some of the points (the points I feel most important; or concerning disposables, I guess it's more of a political point, because personally I don't care that much if they ban disposables, but I'm trying to think of those who it might affect, and in what way).
I didn't want to cover everything, as too long an essay would need to be wrote, and less attention maybe given...

Here's what I wrote -

I am writing to you with great concern about what legislation the government is intending on carrying out via the tobacco and vapes Bill in terms of tobacco harm reduction. I will keep this fairly brief and just cover some of the points.

I have been vaping since 2008, and have not smoked since then. I found no other method as a way of giving up smoking; I assumed I would be a smoker for life. I liked smoking, but I hated what smoking was doing to my body. Within a week or so, I could feel how much better my lung capacity was, and was playing sport again (something I hadn’t done for years).
I enjoy vaping. In fact, I was so impressed by vaping that I set up a retail vape business iVapour in 2009. We have just one shop in Haxby Shopping Centre.

I will start with the crux of my argument (which can not be denied) -
The more restrictions that are put on vaping, the more people will smoke.

Disposable Vapes

There are approximately 2.6 million adults who use disposables in Britain (1 in 20 adults).
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38267284/
According to ASH, there are around 280,000 11-17-year-olds using disposables.
https://ash.org.uk/resources/view/use-of-e-cigarettes-among-young-people-in-great-britain
So, nine in every ten users of disposables are adults.
If disposables are banned, there will be some who change over to reusables, but a large proportion will source them on the black market, or go back to smoking...
Disposables have also been an important low cost entry level for smokers to try vaping.
Any ban on disposables will be perceived as a negative risk communication about vaping or harm reduction in general, when 4 in 10 smokers wrongly believe that vaping is as or more harmful than smoking.
https://ash.org.uk/media-centre/new...-that-vaping-is-as-or-more-harmful-as-smoking

Flavour Restrictions

It is with great dismay that the government have announced they will be restricting flavours in some way, when the wide array of flavours currently available are vital for the success of vaping products to tempt people who smoke to switch to vaping, to not smoke, and stay not smoking.
There has been some mention that candy flavours are there “to market to children”. This is complete nonsense, as many adults like sweet flavours. In fact fruit, dessert and candy flavours are the most popular category among adult vapers, with more than half of all vapers choosing them. If the flavours were say limited tobacco and mint, there would be many vapers who would not want to vape those flavours, and liable to go back to smoking.

Tax

It has been reported that there is likely to be an extra tax on vapes (on top of VAT) of at least 25%.
Research shows that taxes on vaping products increase cigarette sales and use.
https://f1000research.com/articles/12-121
Vapes and cigarettes are economic substitutes—meaning that taxes, flavor restrictions, or other government actions that reduce e-cigarettes’ competitive advantages versus tobacco will increase cigarette sales and smoking, including among teenagers.
There will be a number of unintended consequences if an extra tax is put on vapes, including suppressing sales of legal and taxed vapes, an increase in demand for cigarettes, and incentives to buy and sell illicit products or otherwise avoid tax.

Summary

The focus of the proposed regulation concerning young people is inappropriate – almost as if the effect on older adult smokers, often living in poverty, is of little concern to the government. Yet that is the sub-population at greatest risk and by far the greatest in number.
However, given that vaping is widely accepted to pose a “small fraction of the risk of smoking”, it is clear that any uptick in smoking (in both adolescents and adults) would be likely to overwhelm any benefits from reductions in youth vaping.

The UK has been leading the world globally in tobacco harm reduction, and it will be a real shame if that reputation is reversed. These proposals not only risk trashing our reputation amongst credible global public health academics, but will also lead to promotion of ignorance and poor policy in other countries which will cost lives worldwide.

I hope you consider my points and will protect & encourage tobacco harm reduction in all forms.

If you want to meet in person, I would be more than happy to discuss any of these points (or others).

 

[vapervince]

I haven`t heard back from mine yet which is unusual, maybe she senses that she`s on the way out.

 

[quincey43]

I emailed my MP the 30th January apart from a email to say they had received it nothing!! I will email again and again until I get a reply!!

 

[Netvaper]

It's 2 weeks since I emailed my MP and no reply. As the acknowledge said if you don't hear back in 10 days send a follow-up one that's what I did.

 

[dansus]

For what it’s worth, I can’t see it happening to be honest

Whatever the gov think they are doing about it I’m sure they are aware they will need to think long and hard about it, they also have a lot on the line if a ban comes in to play;

How will the millions of pounds of bounce back loans be paid back from all the vape companies?

The industry is massive, will we all just pack up our bags and turn up to the job centre together all at once?

Vapers may turn back to smoking, costing the NHS billions in medical treatment for smoking related diseases in the future.

Risks of losing votes, millions of people in the UK vape, banning will piss off a massive group of voters.

It is a very complex situation but yes the fight is there, however, this is dealing with parliament and the UK government

but most importantly the new consultation on flavours must be filled in when it happens.

You have exemplified why i think this is happening, as mentioned, 'out the blue' and why No10 will push for it whether Rishi is in charge or not. It's a time bomb for Labour.

A bill will likely get royal assent in late autumn, but there will be a grace or 'sell up' period, which means the public won't care because it won't affect them until it comes into force, probably in the spring, well after an election.

The next election is looking likely to be Dec/Jan, especially if they get rid of Rishi in May. Banning flavours to protect kids is a nice little headline just before an election, but the consequences will land on Labours doorstep, and sure as eggs are eggs, the Conservatives will use it to beat Labour round the head in the press.

This is just one of many time bombs and traps No10 is setting for Labour, as they know their time is up, but they desperately want to make it a one term parliament, and don't care who they throw under the bus in the process.

And you can forget Labour voting against a bill that is designed to 'save the children'. Best hope is they could amend it, but Wes Streeting has a hard on for the prescription model, be careful what you wish for.

The flavour consultation will be a sham designed to give them the answers they want. As they say, the fix is in imo.