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** 13 September 2023
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** UK
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** Ban on disposable vapes and flavourings aimed at children (#1)
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** How dangerous is vaping - and why the concern over young vapers? (#2)
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** Tony Blair: former PM calls for tax on junk food to tackle obesity (#3)
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** UK
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** Ban on disposable vapes and flavourings aimed at children
Disposable vapes and those with flavours designed to appeal to children face being banned under a government crackdown due within weeks.
Rishi Sunak is understood to be putting the finishing touches to a package designed to restrict teenagers’ access to highly addictive products, which could be published as soon as next week.
The prime minister has taken a keen interest in the issue after criticising the “ridiculous” marketing of vapes designed to appeal to children. Ministers have also been working for months on a series of measures.
Vaping is considered much less harmful than smoking conventional cigarettes because it delivers a nicotine hit without the tobacco. Ministers are attempting to encourage adult smokers to switch while stopping children taking up the habit.
Restrictions on advertising featuring cartoons or exotic flavourings were long seen as likely, but ministers are looking at going further after seeing mounting evidence of young people taking up vaping, and political support for tougher rules.
A ban on single-use vapes is due to be included in a consultation paper, with ministers said to favour such a ban. A prohibition on flavourings that appear targeted at children is also likely after increasing concern about products designed to taste like ice cream and candyfloss.
However, ministers are working out how to define disposable vapes and flavourings designed to appeal to children, and final decisions have not been made. A ban on vape companies sponsoring sports teams is also being looked at, although compulsory licencing for retailers selling vapes is considered less likely.
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH, the anti-smoking charity, said: “The government must act to address the rapid growth in youth vaping, but a ban on disposables is risky, as without far greater resources on enforcement it could turn the flood of illegal vapes into a tsunami. ASH believes a better option is a tax on disposable vapes to stop them being sold at pocket money prices.”
She added that “legislation is also needed to make vapes less attractive and less visible to children” but argued: “Prohibiting vapes from being branded like sweets and called sweet names, is the priority. Banning the flavours themselves could be counterproductive as flavours play a major role in helping adult smokers quit and stay quit.”
Source: The Times, 12 September 2023
See also: ASH – Resources on youth vaping ([link removed])
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** How dangerous is vaping - and why the concern over young vapers?
Calls for bans on cheaper disposable vapes have been growing as more young people take up the habit.
The Welsh government has called on the UK government to prohibit the single-use vapes, saying it needs to be "part of a suite of measures to address youth vaping".
Officials in Westminster are actively looking for ways to reduce the numbers of young people buying and using vapes.
The smoking of cigarettes remains one of the biggest contributors to poor health in this country, and many others.
The number of deaths caused by smoking is falling - but it is still the leading cause of preventable illness and premature death and is estimated to cause a quarter of all cancer deaths. In 2019, it accounted for 75,000 deaths in England - 15% of the total.
After decades of government efforts to dissuade people from smoking - most notably through information campaigns, heavy taxation of tobacco products, and the deployment of products such as nicotine patches or gum - the game-changer came when smokers could switch to vaping. A 2019 medical study concluded that incorporating vaping was twice as successful as other nicotine-replacement methods.
The e-cigarette vapour that is inhaled can still contain small amounts of chemicals that are found in cigarettes, including nicotine. But while it is addictive and can lead to dependence issues, nicotine is not particularly harmful by itself.
Most importantly, vapes do not contain tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful elements in tobacco smoke. Other chemicals that are found in tobacco smoke feature in much lower levels in e-cigarette vapour.
In the grand scheme of things, it is still a little early to tell how harmful these levels truly are. Many vapers are former smokers and that naturally complicates long-term studies into the effects on public health.
Source: BBC, 12 September 2023
See also: ASH – Use of e-cigarettes among young people in Great Britain ([link removed]) | ASH – Vaping Mythbuster ([link removed])
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** Tony Blair: former PM calls for tax on junk food to tackle obesity
Tony Blair has urged ministers to tax junk food and impose tougher regulations on the food industry to tackle the obesity crisis.
Speaking to The Times Health Commission, he compared the need for intervention over poor diets to the smoking ban, which he introduced as prime minister in 2007.
Blair said that preventative measures to help people take responsibility for their health and lose weight were essential to creating a sustainable future for the NHS.
“We’ve got to shift from a service that’s treating people when they’re ill to a service that is focused on well-being, on prevention, on how people live more healthy lives,” he said.
The government has recently delayed a series of policies to tackle junk food, including a ban on advertising before 9pm, and a ban on “buy one, get one free” deals.
Two thirds of British adults are obese or overweight, and obesity costs the NHS about £6.5 billion a year, and is the second biggest cause of cancer.
Blair said he would expand the sugar tax, introduced in 2018, and introduce other taxes on foods high in fat, salt and sugar, as well as regulating the food industry through measures such as advertising restrictions.
Blair said concerns over the “nanny state” were a “minority view”, comparing the current debate over anti-obesity policies to the debate over the ban on smoking in public places, which has been widely judged to be a success.
He said: “Smoking was a big, big moment for us. I was a bit worried because people whose political judgement I respected were saying — the working class will walk away from you completely.”
Source: The Times, 13 September 2023
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