The Consumer Choice Center (CCC) condemns Commons’ Vote to Pass the second reading of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. This legislation, if passed, threatens to reverse years of progress made in reducing tobacco consumption and puts public health at serious risk.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will reintroduce Sunak’s measures in prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to any adult born after 2009, as well as tighter restrictions on safer alternatives to combustible tobacco, such as vapes, heaters, and nicotine pouches.
In a statement, Mike Salem, UK Country Associate at the CCC, stated, “These measures are unjust, unworkable and overreaching.
“The last thing we need in the battle to reduce smoking rates is to open an illegal getaway, which now thanks to the generational prohibition, will be easier than ever.”
Ahead of the vote, it was reported that the public is opposed to the prohibition by two to one.
Additionally, Salem explained that “the attack on vapes will turn vapers to smoking,” with a recent study finding a trade-off of 12 additional cigarettes for every 1 less 0.7 mL pod sold due to flavour restrictions.
It is important to note that consumer choice has never been more important than in this debate: Different people have different ways of quitting smoking, and if it is the government’s role to save as many lives as possible, then they should allow as many options on the market as possible for ex-smokers.
Salem concludes, “The Bill will be responsible for creating the opposite effects of the government’s desired outcomes. Smoking rates will either decrease slower or even increase, youth vaping will rise, and all this at the cost of supplying illicit markets and gangs with more profits.”
The CCC urges the Public Bills Committee for the Bill to consider the failed attempts of governments across the world from introducing restrictive measures and to exemplify Sweden, where smoke-free targets have already been achieved by embracing harm reduction rather than prohibition.
