BBC misrepresents UK vaping industry position on single use vapes

On Monday I suggested that mixed messages are undermining the vaping (advocacy) industry.

The most recent example I gave was a comment last week by Doug Mutter, director of leading vape retailer VPZ, who was said to support a ban on disposable vapes as long as it didn’t create a black market.

Personally, I thought it was a stupid thing to say, a classic hostage to fortune, as evidenced by a BBC News report whose headline read ‘Vape store boss supports ban on disposables'.

As director of VPZ Doug Mutter can say what he likes, of course, although I don’t think supporting the prohibition of single use vapes is very helpful, even if it comes with an important qualification.

But Mutter is also a director and occasional spokesman for the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) which does NOT support a ban on disposable vapes.

Indeed, the official UKVIA position is that it is opposed to a ban on ANY category of vape device.

Despite that, the BBC today reported that:

The UK Vaping Industry Association has said it is not opposed to a ban on single-use vapes as long as it does not inadvertently create a black market.

Excuse me? The UKVIA has said nothing of the sort. Those were Doug Mutter’s words, but you can see how the mistake crept into the report.

The situation therefore is this. If the director of VPZ wants to make statements that contradict UKVIA policy, perhaps he should step down from his UKVIA role, if only to avoid similar confusion in future.

Update: Following an intervention by John Dunne, director of the UKVIA, the BBC has corrected its report. It now reads:

The boss of Edinburgh based vaping firm VPZ has said he is not opposed to a ban on single-use vapes as long as it does not inadvertently create a black market.

Doug Mutter, who is also a director of the UK Vaping Industry Association, welcomed the [Scottish government] report [into single use vape littering] and said the Scottish government needed to be more bold by introducing licensing and controls for selling vaping products.

It still leaves a question mark over UKVIA policy on disposable vapes, but at least it’s not factually incorrect any more.

See: Millions of single-use vapes littered on Scotland streets (BBC News)