I had the pleasure of attending a reception in Parliament yesterday organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for E-cigarettes. The purpose of the reception was to formally launch the APPG's new report, 'State of the Vaping Nation'.
The report includes a page from me about the 2016 Freedom to Vape report on the vaping policies of UK councils. I would like to thank Mark Pawsey MP, chair of the APPG, for allowing me to contribute.
The five recommendations of the report are:
- The Government and public health bodies should immediately start a continuous programme to accurately communicate the positive public health message of vaping to the remaining seven million smokers in the UK.
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The APPG calls upon the Government to urgently deliver the commitment in the Tobacco Control Plan to review vaping regulation, in particular the disproportionate aspects of Article 20 of the EU’s Tobacco Products Directive that effectively put vaping in the same bracket as smoking.
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The APPG recommends that the Government adopts a wider collaborative approach to policy creation involving all stakeholders including the regulators, scientific and public health experts and the industry.
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Trading Standards must ensure that current vaping regulations, particularly the product standards of the Tobacco Products
Directive, are consistently and rigorously enforced. -
The Government should review and consider the steps taken by devolved authorities in Scotland and Wales to develop the enforcement powers of regulators.
Please do read the report. It is very good and is a welcome contribution to the debate and the campaign to make the UK more vape friendly.