Details

Published: 30 December 2022

January

A very busy 2022 began with the publication of a review of heated tobacco by the Cochrane Library. It found that "heated tobacco products could benefit public health if they reduce risk and help people stop smoking normal cigarettes, without attracting people who would otherwise avoid tobacco entirely." You can read the review here and a commentary on their research by the review team in The Conversation.  

Our Chair, Louise Ross was quoted in an article on how local governments in England managed to improve their smoking cessation services in 2021. She commented that “It’s really good to see how stop smoking services can be flexible and responsive, especially during the difficult times of the last couple of years.”

It was reported in Norway that the country is on the verge of a smoke-free generation as smoking prevalence among 16 to 24 year olds plummeted from 12% to 1% in just 10 years thanks to snus.

On 31^st January, it was announced that there would be a refocus on advantages to be gained from the UK leaving the European Union with the release of a report entitled The benefits of Brexit - how the UK is taking advantage of leaving the EU, along with a levelling up white paper. Tobacco harm reduction can play a significant role in advancing both these government agendas and we highlighted how the ten policy proposals we put to government in 2020 could help.

February

The NNA published a call for supporters to respond to the Scottish government’s consultation on  “Tightening rules on advertising and promoting vaping products”. As the title suggests, the proposals seek to place unnecessary obstacles in front of raising awareness about vaping products in Scotland. Vape video reviewer Vic Mullin also recorded a call to action on his YouTube channel.

The government-commissioned Independent Tobacco Review, led by Javed Khan OBE, was launched to much fanfare and media reports that it would usher in “a vaping revolution”.    

Louise Ross featured in Vapouround magazine explaining that there are still threats to vaping in the UK, and that "If you feel you have something more to offer and would like to get involved in advocacy, we would love to hear from you." Also in February, European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (ETHRA), of which the NNA is a founder partner, presented a memo to a European Commission meeting on "Emerging tobacco and nicotine products in tobacco control policies" which you can read here.

March

We wrote to Independent Tobacco Review lead, Mr Khan, with a comprehensive set of 20 proposals setting out why tobacco harm reduction should be adopted as a critical strategy for future tobacco policy and is the only realistic approach if the Smokefree 2030 goal is to be achieved, while encouraging supporters to do the same. You can read our full letter here.

The Welsh Government consulted on a new Tobacco Control Plan. We urged consumers to respond with their stories about how vaping works and why it should be central to future government strategy.

March 9 was No Smoking Day. we wrote on our blog that there should be a more concerted campaign to counter media misinformation and confusion about vaping, and that all safer nicotine products should be made widely available, including lifting the ban on snus. On the same day, the Local Government Association called for a reduction of VAT on vaping products from 20% to 5%, stating “There is increasing evidence that e-cigarettes, along with other dedicated support, act as an important gateway to help people to stop smoking."

Jacob Rees-Mogg,  writing in The Sun newspaper, asked for suggestions from the public as to petty regulations that should be abolished now that the United Kingdom has left the EU. We wrote to suggest eliminating pointless restrictions on vaping tank and refill container sizes, removing the 20mg/ml limit on the strength of nicotine e-liquid, and lifting the EU-imposed ban on snus. You can read our letter here.

April

This month saw the publication of the government’s post-implementation review of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR). We wrote on how we believe the regulations could be improved by relaxing pointless vaping controls which only serve to inconvenience vapers and deter smokers switching, but also by better acknowledging the positive contribution other harm reduction options can provide.

On April 13, our trustees, Louise Ross and Sarah Jakes, took part in an online meeting with Javed Khan to give evidence on behalf of the NNA to the government’s Independent Tobacco Review. Also in April, research from University College London found that "Prevalence of e-cigarette use among the youth population in England does not appear to be associated with substantial increases or decreases in the prevalence of smoking uptake", and former NNA trustee, Mark Oates, wrote in Capx that smokers are dangerously ill-informed about the risks of vaping compared to combustible tobacco.

May

We issued a call to action after the EU Commission called for evidence to assess its legislative framework for tobacco control. The document suggested bans on flavours, plus other restrictions on where products can be sold and used, and proposed treating vaping the same as smoking. Many supporters responded to the call, and you can read the NNA’s submission here.

NNA Trustees met with MPs Mark Pawsey and Adam Afriyie in the House of Commons where they had a constructive discussion on vaping and harm reduction matters (picture below), and research from Queen Mary University found that “e-cigarettes are as safe to use as nicotine patches for pregnant smokers trying to quit, and may be a more effective tool.”

July

The EU Commission launched a call for evidence on a proposal to amend a 2009 recommendation on extending smoke-free environments to include vaping products and heated tobacco. We produced a guide on how to respond to the consultation for consumers and supporters. You can read our submission here.

In May, the NNA urged supporters to respond to the EU Commission consultation on its legislative framework for tobacco control in our web article here. In July, it was revealed that the consultation received a record number of responses, according to EU Political Report. Also, following March’s consultation to which we responded, the Welsh government stated that "clarifying the position on e-cigarettes in Wales is a priority" in its long term Tobacco Control Strategy.

August

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) released a briefing for local authorities on youth vaping. It offered a calm analysis of recent fears over youth vaping and debunked some of the many myths seen in the media. The briefing stressed the key point that “media reports that youth vaping risks becoming a potential ‘public health catastrophe’ leading to a ‘generation hooked on nicotine’ are not substantiated by the evidence.” Regarding myths carried in the media, ASH was forthright with unequivocal corrective statements. We reported on the briefing on our blog.

Meanwhile, an update in the Dentistry journal took on inaccurate media reports in the summer claiming that vaping was bad for dental health, stating that “Smokers can expect to see substantial improvements in their oral health if they fully switch to an e-cigarette.”

September

The latest annual report by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) on “Use of e-cigarettes (vapes) among adults in Great Britain” was released and concluded that there are now around 4.3 million vapers in England, Scotland and Wales, a significant increase from 3.6 million in 2021. We welcomed the news in an article on the NNA website.  

The Dutch government opened a public consultation on the final stage of a proposal to ban vaping liquid flavours. The proposals would make it impossible for manufacturers to formulate any flavours at all and would effectively signal the end of the legal vaping market in the Netherlands. On our blog, we urged our supporters to make a submission.

October

At the end of September, the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), released its final Vaping in England review, which was largely positive. It is the most comprehensive yet and covered a wide range of evidence on the use of vaping products amongst adults and youth, as well as brief commentary on heated tobacco and nicotine pouches. We welcomed the review and commented on its conclusions on our blog.

Thérèse Coffey was appointed Secretary of State for Health and it was reported that she planned to delay the Tobacco Control Plan for England. We wrote to Ms Coffey to re-emphasise our 20 recommendations for reducing smoking which rely on consumer choice, deregulation, competition and private sector innovation. You can read the letter here.

The Observer published a very negative editorial which repeated all the tired arguments put forward by ideological anti-vaping activists. It ignored the recent comprehensive review by OHID, instead choosing to amplify cherry-picked science, half-truths and hypothetical risks. It was widely criticised, and we wrote to the Observer’s Reader’s Editor section to strongly condemn the editorial. You can read what we had to say about it here. 16 public health experts also wrote a condemnatory letter which you can read here.

November

At the end of October the BBC reported that health campaigners had called on the government to close a “loophole” in how nicotine pouches are regulated to prevent under 18s from being able to buy them legally. We welcomed this news and noted that we had written to the government on three occasions suggesting light touch regulation. We commented that it is good to see some of our long-held suggestions on nicotine pouches regulation being taken up by health groups.

The Cochrane Library released its latest living review of vaping research, concluding that “There is high‐certainty evidence that e-cigarettes with nicotine increase quit rates compared to NRT.” (summary of findings below). The World Cup began with a warning to football fans that vaping products are banned in Qatar and subject to a fine of $2,700 or three months imprisonment.

December

It was widely reported that new Office for National Statistics (ONS) data reveals that the smoking rate for over 18s in the UK in 2021 declined to a record low of 13.3%. The ONS described the drop in smoking numbers since the previous year’s rate of 14.0% as statistically significant and concluded that vaping had played “a major role” in the reduction. We wrote that this proves tobacco harm reduction works and we should do more of it. Also in December, King's College London produced an explainer article discussing its latest research which informed OHID’s September Vaping in England report, and The Centre for Evidence-based Medicine in Oxford published a blog entitled “7 things you need to know about e-cigarettes and quitting smoking.”

And finally, in the past year the NNA received nearly £150 just from donations generated by those who chose the New Nicotine Alliance as their selected charity while shopping on Amazon. If you haven’t done so already, please go here to nominate the NNA as your charity and Amazon will then donate towards our activities with every purchase you make. You can also make a donation directly to the NNA by clicking here. Thank you for your donations in the last 12 months by whatever means you have made them. We are very grateful for your support throughout 2022.

Details

Published: 27 December 2021

January

The NNA began the year by being invited to give oral evidence to the APPG for Vaping’s inquiry into the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control COP9 meeting which was to take place in November 2021. The resultant report, which you can read here, was released at the end of March.

February

The NNA published a call for supporters to respond to the government’s consultation on the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations (TRPR). The report has yet to be published following this consultation and it was revealed later in the year that this is partly because over 5,000 responses were submitted, the majority of which will have been from consumers. Public Health England released its 7^th report on vaping in England, with the press release declaring that “vaping is better than nicotine replacement therapy for stopping smoking”.  We welcomed the report in our news article about it here. Our former Chair, Martin Cullip, took part in a panel discussion hosted by the Adam Smith Institute alongside Clive Bates and Mark Oates on how vaping, snus, heated tobacco and other smoking alternatives can play a vital role in saving lives, you can watch the discussion here.  

March

News stories emerged in national dailies, The Daily Mail, The Mirror and The Sun, that the WHO planned to ban open vaping systems. For some reason, some commentators dismissed this as a scare story despite it being clearly stated as a policy proposal in documents presented to the WHO in late 2020. Martin Cullip was quoted at Ecigclick on the issue, saying “This is not an empty threat, especially considering the WHO’s extremely hostile stance towards vaping”. Yorkshire Cancer Research released an excellent film called Vaping Demystified, which explored truth about vaping and debunked misinformation, you can watch it here.

The Institute of Economic Affairs held a webinar on the future of the UK tobacco harm reduction policy. Martin Cullip took part alongside Mark Pawsey MP and Clive Bates. The full discussion is available here. The APPG for Vaping’s COP Inquiry report was published.

April

Holyrood and the Scottish Grocers' Federation conducted a roundtable discussion to debate tobacco harm reduction, with the NNA’s Louise Ross featuring. You can read an account of the discussion at this link. NNA Trustee, Dave Cross, also wrote an article about the NNA on the blog of independent vape retailer, Vapekit.

May

We wrote to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care at the Department of Health and Social Care – Jo Churchill – and the Director of the Number 10 Policy Unit – Munira Mirza – to provide a more comprehensive set of policy proposals for maximising the potential of safer nicotine products in order to match the government’s smoke-free 2030 and levelling up agendas which you can read here. This followed our previous letter of October 2020. Louise Ross was quoted in an article on the Kings College Cancer Prevention blog asking if the flavour debate is distracting from the health benefits of vaping.

June

The Global Forum on Nicotine took place in Liverpool with Martin Cullip one of the event commentators. The NNA also held a side panel at a separate venue on the future of harm reduction in the UK with Clive Bates, Mark Oates, and former Lib Dem MEP, Rebecca Taylor. There is a recording of the NNA panel on YouTube here. The NNA gave written and oral evidence to the APPG for Vaping's Smoke Free 2030 Inquiry.

July

The APPG for Vaping's Smoke Free 2030 Inquiry was published, with the NNA referenced throughout. You can read the full report here. Louise Ross took over as NNA Interim Chair.

August

A ground-breaking article was published at the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) entitled Balancing Consideration of the Risks and Benefits of E-Cigarettes, written by no fewer than 15 past Presidents of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT). We wrote about it here. Action on Smoking and Health released their latest report on Use of e-cigarettes among adults in Great Britain, revealing that the proportion of the population who are vapers has increased to 7.1%, amounting to 3.6 million people, two thirds of which are ex-smokers.

September

The NNA issued a call to action for consumers to write to their MP in advance of the WHO’s COP9 meeting in November. We wrote an article on our blog explaining why we felt this was necessary.

Louise Ross spoke to the Ashtray Blog about media reports suggesting the UK government may raise the smoking and vaping age to 21. You can read the article here.  

October

100 specialists in nicotine science, policy and practice submitted a letter criticising the WHO for their objections to tobacco harm reduction. We welcomed the important intervention by these 100 experts in our blog article here. Louise Ross took part in a panel debate at Conservative Party Conference in Manchester entitled “The Golden Opportunity: How Britain can embrace tobacco harm reduction”, which was recorded and can be watched here. Louise also gave the NNA’s view on the rapid rise in use of disposable vaping products to Ecigclick here.

November

At the end of October, it was announced that vaping products may be made available on the NHS for smoking cessation, we wrote an explainer on what the proposals may entail which you can read here. The WHO FCTC’s COP9 virtual meeting took place, with all discussion and decisions regarding reduced risk nicotine products postponed until COP10 in Panama in 2023. The NNA had applied for observer status for this meeting but was denied access with no explanation given. No consumer group was permitted to observe proceedings despite the WHO’s claim that the meetings are transparent. Elsewhere, research in Sweden revealed that smoking prevalence has declined yet further, to 6%, largely due to the availability and uptake of snus.

December

Vaping as a stop smoking aid is included in guidelines from the National Institute of Clinical Excellence for the first time. Louise Ross wrote about her thoughts on the guidelines on our blog here. Louise also took part in a panel at the World Vape Show on the subject of ensuring access to tobacco harm reduction in healthcare.

And finally, in the past year the NNA received nearly £250 just from donations generated by those who chose the New Nicotine Alliance as their selected charity while shopping on Amazon. If you haven’t done so already, please go here to nominate the NNA as your charity and Amazon will then donate towards our activities with every purchase you make. Thank you for your donations in the last 12 months by whatever means you have made them; we are very grateful for your support throughout 2021.

Details

Published: 25 May 2021

Hello again

While the NNA has been busy with a number of initiatives in 2021, Covid has exerted pressures on our time so there has been a lack of updates to you, our supporters. As we seem to be getting nearer to the life we all remember, here is the first of what we hope will be more regular communications from now on. We hope you are all well and not too badly affected by what we’ve all been through.

Nicotine pouches

In January, we wrote to Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health, Jo Churchill, to call for sensible light touch regulation of modern oral nicotine pouches. We believe regulation needs to be put in place including age of sale restrictions and to curtail the activities of reckless or unscrupulous sellers, while still allowing adult smokers access to these potentially beneficial products.

We continue to emphasise that nicotine pouches hold considerable promise for the betterment of public health as a safer alternative to combustible tobacco, but better regulation is required to protect the category into the future.

APPG COP9 Inquiry

At the start of the year, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Vaping (APPG) conducted an inquiry into the WHO’s Conference of the Parties meeting (COP9) to be held in The Hague in November, where it is expected that there will be a hostile atmosphere towards safer nicotine products such as e-cigarettes. We made a submission to the consultation for this report and our Chair gave oral evidence at one of two virtual sessions held in February. The report giving the APPG’s recommendations for the UK’s delegation to COP9 was published at the end of March and you can read its findings at this link. 

Make your voice heard

The APPG has now opened another inquiry, this time entitled UK Tobacco Harm Reduction Opportunities Post-Brexit: Achieving a Smoke-Free 2030. There is a consultation which is open to consumers so do please respond, it really could not be easier. Click the link here to tell your story, and the more stories that are told, the more the message will be heard. Please add your voice to make sure that the craziness of European legislation and regulation can’t creep in to the UK. The deadline is Thursday 27th May, so please don’t delay, do it now.

Calling vapers in York and Hull

Dr Frances Thirlway (York University) is looking for local vapers to join an experts-by-experience group for a study she is conducting. She’s very interested in grassroots thinking, so if you’re from there, please do get in touch by contacting our Vice Chair, Louise Ross, via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Sign up as a NNA Supporter and encourage your friends and family to sign up too, by clicking here.

Details

Published: 02 February 2020

As mentioned in our round-up of 2019, the coming year will present many sinister challenges. We need to be ready for them and the NNA has been preparing for momentous threats from the EU and the WHO. 2020 will require consumers to be vigilant and active, so do keep watching for updates. Here are just some of the activities we have been involved with at the start of a new year.

FINDING COMMONS GROUND

With clear and present dangers to harm reduction looming, an NNA delegation met with three MPs at the House of Commons on 28th January. Mark Pawsey, MP for Rugby, Adam Afriyie, MP for Windsor, and Gareth Johnson, MP for Dartford met with us to discuss how to best address threats to the very successful UK government strategy towards vaping and other reduced risk products.

Our government leads the world in sensible recognition of safer nicotine products and provides a great example to other jurisdictions on how to make the most of innovative products via our Tobacco Control Plan. Unaccountable external interests are irritated by this, but we received a reassuring welcome for our plans to keep the UK safe from measures which could threaten our successful policies here. 

Pictured above are NNA trustees Sarah Jakes, Dave MacKintosh, Tom Pruen, Martin Cullip, Mark Oates and Bernice Evans with MPs after the meeting.

Gareth Johnson has already started probing the government for their plans to tackle EU and WHO excesses with two parliamentary questions which you can read here and here, while Adam Afriyie posted positive messages to Twitter the day after our meeting, which you can support here and here. If you choose to post your personal story on how harm reduction helped you, we think it would be well-received.

 WORLD HEALTH MISINFORMATION

As if we didn’t need reminding why the World Health Organisation is a conflicted and dangerous force for bad in the tobacco harm reduction space which consumers should be prepared to battle against in 2020, they released a Q&A document and a series of tweets on January 20th which were astonishing. NNA associate Clive Bates wrote about how appalling their guidance is, stating that “there are nine questions and every single answer provides false, misleading or simplistic information”. It was subsequently updated but is still woefully misleading. You can read Clive’s comprehensive summary here.

Our Vice Chair, Louise Ross was also active in objecting to the WHO’s blatant misinformation about e-cigarettes. At EcigClick she rightly accused the WHO of “publishing assertions that undermine the determination of smokers to switch to a less harmful product”, while at The Filter, she was angry that she is receiving calls “from healthcare professionals who now think that vaping is more dangerous than smoking” which is fundamentally untrue, and that it is “because they have been misinformed by an organisation that claims to care about health.”. Louise was also quoted on the subject in a YouTube submission by advocate John Oyston which you can view here.

The Science Media Centre also spoke out about the WHO’s ideological departure from reality, with Professor John Britton describing how “the WHO misrepresents the available scientific evidence”, which you can read here.

LA-LA DOOLALLY AMERICA

Our Chair, Martin Cullip, was interviewed by French magazine PGVG on thoughts from 2019 and aspirations for 2020 in NNA’s role as founder partner of European advocacy group, ETHRA.

In an article drawing on commentators across Europe, Martin remarked that “the coordination and frequency of attacks on vaping have been as extraordinary as they are shameful” in 2019 and that “what happened in the United States must not affect the great potential that reduced risk products can bring to the rest of the world” in the coming year. All the submissions are in French, but you can Google translate them from this link.

Martin was also asked for comment by Vapouround magazine this month about the absurd suggestion by Canadian public health officials that vaping products should be sold in plain packaging. He described the proposal as policymakers with a hammer desperately searching for a new nail and that industry-set standards would be more likely to produce beneficial results to counter perceived downsides to problematic packaging. Keep an eye on the magazine’s website for when the article is published.

PLUCK OF THE IRISH

It’s great to note that our sister organisation, NNA Ireland, continues to gain recognition. In a country implacably opposed to harm reduction, they are doing a great job of making themselves heard.

NNA Ireland is a nascent consumer group representing those who use reduced risk products across the Irish Sea. If you are in Ireland please contact them at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or join their Facebook group (here), they would welcome your input. They urgently need help with setting up a website and also need people who are prepared to be active and share their story with politicians.

SETTING THE STANDARDS

We are delighted to report that NNA trustee Dave Cross has been appointed as a member of the committee to craft standards for e-cigarettes and e-liquids with the British Standards Institution. The working title for the standard is BSI CH/437 and we are confident that Dave will be able to contribute wisely in the role drawing on his extensive knowledge of the product category over many years.

Additionally, our newly-appointed trustee Tom Pruen has submitted evidence towards the BSI’s inquiry into heated tobacco entitled Draft PAS 8850: Non-Combustible Tobacco Products, Heated Tobacco products, while Louise Ross contributed towards NICE’s guidance on Tobacco: preventing uptake, promoting quitting and treating dependence.

PARISH NOTICES

Our highly respected and loved trustee Kevin Molloy is going through a difficult time right now, and has had to stand down from NNA. We wish him love and strength as he undertakes a very arduous treatment for cancer.

TOMORROW'S NEWS TODAY

Trustee Dave MacKintosh spoke at the launch of Tobacco Harm Reduction and the Right to Health, the latest Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction report at Guildhall Art Gallery on the 23rd of this month. There are plenty of other events lined up for our team in coming weeks.

Our Chair, Martin Cullip, will be speaking at St George’s Hospital in Tooting on 10th February at their Great Vape Debate. The panel will be filmed but if you are in the area and wish to attend, tickets are available here.

NNA Associate Andy Morrison will be in Lanarkshire to discuss harm reduction with local stop smoking services on 12th February, and our snus expert Mark Oates will be at Vaper Expo in Olympia on the weekend of 15th/16h February.

Lastly, if you have an idea for a session at the Global Forum on Nicotine you can submit your abstract here - but please do it quickly, as the deadline for abstract submissions is 9th February. As ever, the 7th GFN offers a lot of opportunities for consumer participation - including dedicated forums for consumer discussion - so please consider attending. You can register for the GFN here.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

Please remember that NNA trustees give their time for free, and we rely on your generous donations to continue to ensure consumer voices are heard. Please keep your donations coming in via the donate button below, and if you can commit to a standing order or regular PayPal payment it would be gratefully received.

There is an option to get Amazon to donate to the NNA if you shop via the Amazon Smile page and select NNA as your charity. You can support New Nicotine Alliance (UK) by starting your shopping from this link.

You can also donate to the NNA via eBay, as we are registered as an eBay charity. You can add a donation when you buy something and you can also auction your own items and choose to donate part or all the proceeds to us. We are always open to donated items which we can sell to raise funds too, all items would be gratefully received.

Sign up as a NNA Supporter and encourage your friends and family to sign up too, by clicking here.