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** 31 July 2023
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** UK
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** Influencers and freebies: Big Tobacco’s push to sell nicotine pouches in UK (#1)
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** Children target corner shops to buy vapes because of lax ID checks, academic says (#2)
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** Food insecurity leads to unhealthy eating and contributes to obesity, MPs' report finds (#4)
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** UK
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**
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** Tobacco companies are exploiting a legal loophole to promote flavoured nicotine pouches as a fun and glamorous lifestyle product, including paying young influencers to plug the products online.

The addictive pouches – sachets of nicotine tucked under the lip – are being pushed in Instagram campaigns, at music festivals and at lavish promo parties, the Observer has found.

In the UK, unlike e-cigarettes, they are not classed as tobacco-related products and can be legally sold to under-18s. The disposable pouches – which come in various strengths and in flavours such as watermelon, strawberry and mint – can also be legally advertised across social media, where vape promotions are generally prohibited.

Companies pushing nicotine pouches in the UK say that despite the looser rules, their marketing is responsible and their promotions are never targeted at under-18s. They say the pouches, which do not contain tobacco, are a reduced-risk alternative to smoking and are aimed at existing nicotine users.

But Observer analysis suggests the products are being promoted in glamorous marketing campaigns that appear to be aimed at younger audiences.

British American Tobacco (BAT) – which makes Pall Mall and Lucky Strike cigarettes and Vuse vapes – frequently works with young British Instagram influencers to promote its nicotine pouch brand, Velo. In March, the company hosted a party with a DJ and free product samples. Attendees, including London rappers in their 20s, later posted event videos featuring Velo products on Instagram.

Action on Smoking and Health, a campaigning charity, said the marketing was “straight out of the big tobacco playbook of old”.

Alice Wiseman, policy lead for addiction at the Association of Directors of Public Health, called on the government to “introduce tighter regulation as a matter of urgency…These products are currently unregulated which leaves children and young people vulnerable,” she said.

The Department of Health said it was aware of the concerns but had no current plans to regulate further, as use of the pouches remains low.

Source: The Guardian, 30 July 2023
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Children are targeting corner shops to buy vapes because of lax ID checks, experts have found.

‌More than 12,000 under-18s were surveyed by scientists on how aware they were of e-cigarettes in shops and where they went to purchase them if they wanted to. Data show two in three children now see e-cigarettes for sale and it also revealed children are twice as likely to go to small shops to source vapes for purchase than they were in 2019.

‌The report authors criticised the current policies and enforcement and say the findings show measures designed to prevent children getting e-cigarettes are failing.
‌In the study the scientists say advertising, promotion, and sale of both tobacco and e-cigarettes “need to be reinforced to deter use among children…This study shows that children are seeing a lot of these products in shops and are able to obtain them,” Dr Laverty said.

He wants to see the Government bring in a ban on promotion in most stores and introduce standard packaging to reduce the appeal to younger clientele. “This would drive down use among children, as would adding an excise tax to disposables, which are particularly cheap,” he added.

The Government rejected amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill in 2021 which would have given policy makers more power to control vape marketing in the UK. Study co-author, Prof Nicholas Hopkinson, also from Imperial, said: “Since then, youth vaping has increased dramatically. It is well past time for the government to take steps to deal with this.

“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 HMRC and Border Force powers to deal with illegal imports.”

Hazel Cheeseman, Deputy Chief Executive of Action on Smoking and Health said: “This analysis shows that instore 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.”

Source: The Telegraph, 31 July 2023
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**

A fifth of UK households are struggling to get access to good quality food at reasonable prices causing them to turn to high-calorie alternatives which is likely contributing to obesity, a report by MPs warned.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee is calling on the government to explore the options of extending the provision of free school meals and to break the "junk food cycle".

The MPs warned that food that is high in fat, sugar and salt is "often considerable cheaper" per calorie than healthy food, fuelling obesity levels in poorer households.
It said the struggle to get good quality food at reasonable prices and turning to unhealthy alternatives is likely to contribute to making 40% of the population obese by 2025.

The committee has called on the government to review whether income support packages for poorer members of society were sufficient to stop people needing to turn to food banks.

Ministers were urged to carry out a full impact assessment of the introduction of a sugar and salt tax that could help drive healthier choices.

A government spokesman responded: "We know food prices are worrying for households across the country, which is why we're sticking to our plan to halve inflation this year, and ministers are keeping in close discussion with the industry about the cost of food’’.

"We have introduced a number of measures to tackle obesity, recently implementing clear food labelling guidelines to help people make healthier choices for themselves and their family when eating out or getting a takeaway.’’

Source: Sky News, 28 July 2023
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.

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