The NNA can welcome one part of the Department of Health’s latest crackdown on vaping. At least ministers have stopped short of proposing a blanket ban on all vape flavours, something that would have removed one of the most effective tools helping millions of adults stay away from cigarettes.
Unfortunately, much of the rest of the suite of proposals risks sending exactly the wrong message to smokers.
Only this week, new polling from Action on Smoking and Health revealed that a majority of adults now wrongly believe vaping is as harmful as, or more harmful than, smoking. That misconception is already preventing many smokers from switching to products that leading public health bodies have consistently described as posing only a small fraction of the risk of smoking. Yet the government's new proposals seem almost guaranteed to reinforce public misunderstanding.
The government plans to impose plain white packaging, products hidden behind screens, severe restrictions on branding and flavours and intends to limit the colour of devices to black, white, or grey. It is difficult to see how applying the same policies to vaping as have been applied to cigarettes can do anything other than convince even more people that the products present similar risks.
The overwhelming majority of Britain's 5.5 million vapers are former smokers. Many of them claim that vaping has helped them quit after previous attempts had failed. Under the proposed restrictions, many future smokers may never make that switch.
The combined population of adult smokers and adult vapers is around sixteen times larger than the equivalent youth population. While preventing youth uptake is an important public health objective, adult smokers remain by far the largest group at risk of serious disease and premature death, but this government announcement doesn’t seem to take account of that.
The government’s press release acknowledges that vaping is less harmful than smoking, yet its proposals treat vaping in much the same way as cigarettes. In fact, Health Secretary James Murray has told the Daily Mirror that it plans to treat e-cigarettes the same as cigarettes. Combined with the introduction of a substantial new vaping tax later this year, it seems that ministers believe the difference in risk is relatively small.
They could not be more wrong. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has stated that “vaping poses only a small fraction of the risks of smoking.” If even a modest number of smokers decide not to switch because they wrongly believe vaping is just as dangerous, the resulting increase in smoking related disease would easily outweigh any reduction achieved by reducing youth vaping rates.
The consultation gives no indication that specialist vape shops will be exempt from display restrictions. The government is introducing a licensing scheme to ensure that only responsible individuals sell the products, and they are, and will be, adults only retail environments. Hiding products from adult smokers actively seeking alternatives to smoking serves no public health purpose.
The proposals also target other reduced risk smoking alternatives. Heated tobacco products sit in a significantly lower position on the continuum of risk than combustible cigarettes, yet ministers propose regulating them exactly the same as combustible tobacco, despite a significant body of scientific evidence showing they are much less harmful. Likewise, nicotine pouches, which are among the lowest risk nicotine products currently available, face restrictions on display, marketing, flavours, and packaging that could discourage smokers from switching.
While the government is not planning to ban flavours outright, it has stated its intention to ban fruit, confectionery, dessert, and other non-tobacco flavours. Thousands of former smokers rely on these flavours to help break the association with smoking. Removing these options risks makes relapse more likely for many adults.
Protecting children is an entirely legitimate objective. Responsible manufacturers, retailers, and consumer groups all support robust age restrictions and sensible enforcement against youth access, but policies designed to protect young people should not come at the expense of millions of adults who smoke.
The government should also understand that perception matters. When products that are widely accepted to be far less harmful than smoking are packaged, displayed, taxed, and regulated almost exactly like cigarettes, the inevitable consequence is that many members of the public will assume they pose the same dangers. That misunderstanding already exists and these proposals will only make it worse.
The government repeatedly says these products are "less harmful than smoking", but almost every regulatory measure it proposes tells the public exactly the opposite. If ministers genuinely believe vaping poses only a small fraction of the risk of smoking, why are they regulating it to look, feel and be sold almost exactly like cigarettes?
The government consultation was launched today and will close in 12 weeks’ time. The NNA will be evaluating the consultation questions and will give our guidance as to how best to respond. It is important that consumers do so because it is clear from the government’s proposals that it has not taken the views of smokers and vapers into account.
Action on Smoking and Health’s survey found that 54% of UK adults and 52% of smokers wrongly believe vaping is as harmful or more harmful than cigarettes. This latest move by government will reinforce and turbo-charge what is already a worrying lack of understanding.