Ireland’s Health Committee wants flavoured e-cigarettes banned
Sunday, July 17, 2022 at 11:00 I’ve written at length about creeping prohibition, not just bans on tobacco products but smokeless products as well.
I’ve warned that if vaping advocates won’t defend combustible products all nicotine products will be banned sooner or later because that’s how public health zealots work - they’re always looking for the next logical step.
Now the Irish Government has been urged to ban the sale of all flavoured e-cigarettes with the exception of tobacco.
The call comes from the Joint Committee on Health whose Pre-Legislative Report on the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill 2019 was published on Friday afternoon.
It follows a number of hearings that began in November 2021 and concluded on March 1 during which time the Committee invited various witnesses - but not a single consumer group - to give oral evidence.
Among the first witnesses were the Irish Cancer Society and the Irish Heart Foundation who called for the age of sale of tobacco and e-cigarettes to be raised to 21.
They also proposed a ‘ban on all e-cigarette flavours bar tobacco, a ban on all vaping advertising and the introduction of plain packaging [for e-cigarettes]’.
In February the Irish vaping industry was invited to respond but did so in a manner that can best be described as extraordinary. As I wrote here (Own goal?):
During what were described as 'sometimes testy exchanges', one representative of the Irish Vape Vendors Association (IVVA) conceded that "Nothing is better than fresh air" while another said not vaping is always better if you are a non-smoker.
The same person agreed that some e-cigarette packaging is "overly colourful" and a third said, "I would have no problem increasing the age [of sale] to 21."
The principal IVVA spokesman also admitted that, "Yes, I am addicted to nicotine", which is fair enough.
Later however he added, "I would prefer not to be addicted to nicotine", which is hardly a great endorsement for a nicotine-based consumer product.
Two weeks later John Dunne, representing Vape Business Ireland, offered a far better advocacy of e-cigarettes but the damage may have been done.
Unlike the Khan review in the UK - which takes a sledgehammer to smokers and combustible products - most of the Committee’s recommendations are focussed on e-cigarettes.
The one that stands out reads:
The [Public Health] Bill should regulate the flavouring of e-cigarettes and all flavours, except for tobacco, should be strictly prohibited [my emphasis] so as not to entice minors.
(I have added a comma after ‘flavours’ because it’s missing in the report and that minor grammatical error makes it a bit confusing on first reading.)
There are 22 recommendations in the report. Four concern tobacco products but instead of insisting that ‘The Bill should regulate’ such and such, the Committee merely suggests that the Minister for Health ‘should examine’, ‘should commission’, ‘should review’ or ‘should conduct’ further research into various issues such as ‘the regulation of roll your own cigarettes’, ‘smoking habits around the usage of larger packs of cigarettes’, and ‘increasing the age of tobacco and nicotine-inhaling product purchase from 18 years of age to 21’.
The Minister for Health should [also] review the rules governing the import of tobacco products into Ireland by individuals who are returning from abroad.
These recommendations offer a clear indication of the possible direction of travel but, for the moment, the Committee is not pushing for further regulation of tobacco products beyond what’s already in the Bill, such as the ban on tobacco vending machines which most smokers can probably live with.
If however the Irish Government is minded to prohibit flavoured e-cigarette products that would be a huge blow to vapers who have quit smoking with the help of e-cigarettes, and to consumer choice.
Part of me therefore is surprised by how little coverage the recommendation has got because as far as I can tell only the Irish Times has covered it - Ban bright packaging and flavourings in vapes and e-cigarettes, Oireachtas committee says.
Then again, the report was slipped out late on Friday afternoon, 24 hours after the final sitting of the Dáil before the summer recess. To say some of us were scratching our heads is an understatement. Why would the Committee want to bury its own report like this?
Banning flavoured e-cigarettes would be a major step yet the report was released without fanfare, unlike the Khan review whose publication was attended by a government minister, the Chief Medical Officer and other titans of tobacco control in the UK.
It’s a bit of a mystery but possibly good news. After all, given the economic problems in Ireland (which are similar to those facing the UK), I can’t imagine any government prioritising a war on nicotine so perhaps there’s a reason for downplaying the report.
It does however make a bit of a mockery of those hearings (to which we weren’t invited, despite several requests). But they were bit of a farce anyway with some members of the Committee doing little to hide their (arguably) preconceived views.
What a joke.
See: Pre-Legislative Report on the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill 2019
See also: Harsh lesson for vapers in Ireland (Taking Liberties, November 18, 2021)
PS. Forest Ireland asked repeatedly to be allowed to give oral evidence to the Committee but members weren’t interested.
Nevertheless our original 2019 submission is listed, with a link, at the back of the report. You can read it here.
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