With friends like these (a gentle reminder)

ASH, considered by some to be ‘pro-vaping’, has once again called for a ban on the promotion and display of e-cigarettes in shops.

Following publication of a study in the journal Tobacco Control, The Times reports that:

Researchers at Imperial College London asked 12,445 children aged from 11 to 18 if they notice vapes when they go into supermarkets. Some 66 per cent said they did last year, up from 57 per cent when the same survey was carried out in 2018.

Readers will be familiar with this type of survey because it is very similar to research carried out before the introduction of the tobacco display ban.

However, just because children ‘notice’ tobacco or e-cigarettes in shops, that’s not a good reason to hide them from sight. (What next? Alcohol? Sunbeds?)

Laws are already in place banning their sale to under 18s, so how about properly enforcing that law before introducing yet another unnecessarily restrictive regulation that treats everyone like children?

According to Hazel Cheeseman, deputy CEO of ASH, however:

“Quantifying the impact on children of the growing promotion of vapes is crucial to determine the scale of the problem and how it can be best addressed. This analysis shows that in-store promotion has the biggest impact, which is why ASH is advocating that promotion and display of e-cigarettes in shops should be prohibited, as should the child-friendly packaging and labelling of vapes.”

Also quoted by The Times is Anthony Laverty, ‘lead author of the research and lecturer at the school of public health at Imperial College’, and Nicholas Hopkinson, ‘co-author of the study and professor of respiratory medicine at Imperial’.

According to Laverty:

“These results highlight high levels of exposure to tobacco and e-cigarettes among children, as well as the ease of accessing these products.

“This is despite legislation prohibiting sales to minors. There needs to be greater enforcement of existing laws on the display of tobacco, as well as action to stem e-cigarette advertising and put vapes out of sight and reach of children.”

To which Hopkinson added:

“In 2021 the UK government rejected amendments to the Health and Care Bill which would have given it power to control types of e-cigarette marketing that promote youth uptake.

“As well as display bans and standardised packaging, an excise tax on disposable vapes would stop them being available at pocket money prices and bring them into the excise control regime, giving [HM Revenue & Customs] and Border Force powers to deal with illegal imports.”

I don’t know about about you, but I always feel uncomfortable when researchers call for government action.

The job of a truly independent researcher - with no skin in the game - is surely to conduct research but leave the campaigning and lobbying to others (ASH, for example).

Unfortunately the line between lobbyists and researchers has been blurred for a very long time, and this yet another example.

Sadly, The Times failed to mention that ‘Nick’ Hopkinson is chairman of ASH, but perhaps that wasn’t in the press release.

Anyway, I mention this just to re-emphasise the point I have made over and over and over again.

What we’re seeing is the tobacco template being adopted for e-cigarettes. Suck up to them all you like, but ASH is not and never will be the vapers’ friend.

Comments

[Pat Nurse]

Just imagine what we could have achieved together instead of throwing smokers under a bus and promising our enemies to use vaping as a means of achieving the political dream of a "smoke free world."

It's about choice, freedom to choose, and it's never been about health. If only we all fought to make the concept of freedom as important as the concept of good health which is meaningless if we cannot choose how we wish to live our lives.