Two very different smoking-related stories in the papers today.
A chain-smoking bomb disposal expert from the Isle of Man is risking life and limb in Ukraine by defusing and destroying thousands of shells, mines and booby traps. Staying calm is key, so to relax [Chris] Garrett said that he smokes 40 cigarettes a day. “I make sure that I get at least two coffees in before I go to work and don’t run out of cigarettes throughout the day. That’s how I roll,” he said.
I’m trying - without success - to imagine how that story might have been spun had Garrett quit smoking and was vaping instead.
Impossible, right?
Ditto the story of the Ukrainian man who disposed of an anti-tank mine while smoking a cigarette.
It does however lead me to the second story, in the Express, which is the latest in a series of media reports that will no doubt intensify as ministers continue to be lobbied ahead of the new Tobacco Control Plan:
Britain needs to lead the world by banning traditional cigarettes and get smokers to start vaping instead to save thousands of lives, a leading scientist has demanded.
Dr Nveed Chaudhary’s call for urgent action comes as Health Secretary Sajid Javid has a review of tobacco products expected to report soon with an aim of making the UK “smoke-free by 2030”.
Dr Chaudhary said: “Banning cigarettes tomorrow would force smokers to use e-cigarettes which will end up saving many, many lives.”
Forest’s response can be found at the very end of the report (scroll down and keep scrolling!):
The comments have infuriated the consumer group, Forest, which represents smokers. Simon Clark, director of Forest, said:
“You can’t bully or coerce smokers to switch to vaping. Smokers must be informed about reduced risk products but whether they switch from one legal product to another has to be their choice.
“Prohibition rarely works. Banning cigarettes will simply drive the sale of cigarettes underground creating a huge black market. The only people who will benefit are criminal gangs who will happily sell cigarettes to anyone including children.”
See ‘UK cigarette ban: Smokers could be forced to ditch habit and start vaping, scientist warns’ (Express)
Dr Chaudhary is chief scientific and regulatory officer at Broughton Group, ‘experts in science and regulation’.
Interestingly he has worked not only for the pharmaceutical industry but also, at various times, three tobacco companies - British American Tobacco, Philip Morris International and Imperial Brands.
Talking of PMI, there was an interesting article in the FT yesterday commenting on the company’s acquisition of Swedish Match, the ‘world leader in snus’.
The oral tobacco pouch may be outlawed in the UK and every EU member state except Sweden, but it is legal in America, ‘the biggest tobacco market after China’, hence the appeal of Swedish Match to PMI.
The good news, according to the FT, is that:
Even if its $16bn investment in Swedish Match disappoints, annual cigarette sales of 600bn provide decent insurance.
Touché.
See ‘Philip Morris has resolved big tobacco’s burning issue’ (Financial Times)