NEWS
Tobacco Products Directive
Branded “A Historic Mistake”
In House of Lords Debate
The Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) scores an own goal by
discouraging smokers from taking up vaping and preventing them from
quitting smoking, the House of Lords was told.
The Tobacco Products Directive (TPD)
scores an own goal by discouraging
smokers from taking up vaping and
preventing them from quitting smoking,
the House of Lords was told.
The House of Lords Grand Committee
was debating the Tobacco and Related
Products Regulations 2016 which is the
UK law which brings the TPD into effect.
Conservative peer Viscount Ridley
told the Committee that the TPD was
‘a historic mistake’ and highlighted the
huge death toll caused by smoking in the
UK alone.
He said: “The horrific death toll from
smoking—100,000 of our citizens die
every year— is the biggest cause of
preventable death on a scale that is hard
to comprehend: it is a Hillsborough every
eight hours. It is a scourge that deserves
the very best of technical ingenuity and
policy-making skills to solve.
“Britain is probably the world’s leading
vaping nation. Almost all the 2.6 million
vapers in Britain are smokers or exsmokers, and the quit rate for those who
try vaping is faster and greater than it is
with nicotine replacement therapies or
cold-turkey cessation.
“In other words, this is a public health
revolution, and it is costing the taxpayer
nothing.
“By saving smokers a fortune, rewarding
entrepreneurs and averting ill health, it
is boosting the economy but we have
before us a piece of legislation that
strangles that breakthrough in red tape.
“It is the product of big-company lobbying
and back-room deals in Brussels. It
is legislation which last month the
Department of Health admitted risks
increasing, not reducing, the amount of
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smoking.”
He said vaping has now helped more
than 1 million people in the UK stop
smoking but described the new vaping
laws as serving to “stifle an exciting
innovation that is saving lives.”
Fellow Conservative Lord Brabazon of
Tara said he smoked 20 cigarettes a
day for almost 50 years and it was only
vaping that had successfully allowed
him to quit adding: “I took up vaping two
years ago and I have not had a cigarette
since.”
He said: “I would estimate that 99% of
people who smoke e-cigarettes are those
who are trying to give up, or have given
up, smoking real cigarettes. I cannot
believe that anyone would start using
an e-cigarette if they had not smoked an
ordinary cigarette beforehand.
“It is extremely good for the pocket, as
well as the health, in that 20 cigarettes
now cost something like £9 a packet
whereas a 10 millilitre bottle of nicotine
e-liquid costs £5 and lasts me a whole
week.”
Lord Callanan described the TPD as “a
messy, badl y worded compromise” and
said the ban on advertising e-cigarettes
would only serve to prevent smokers
from quitting.
He said: “This is truly a terrible piece
of legislation, however, it is not too late
to undo some of that harm and to help
encourage the taking up of e-cigarettes
and, consequently, a reduction in
tobacco consumption.
“Instead of trying to restrict e-cigarettes,
the Government should in fact be trying
positively to encourage them.”
Earl Cathcart told the Committee that
he was on a 50 cigarettes-a-day habit
after he started smoking as a teenager
and nothing he had tried could get him
to quit.
He said: “I tried every trick in the book
to kick the habit, but nothing seemed to
work. I knew that it would kill me—that
I would be gathered by the grim reaper
before my time — but I just could not
stop. I could not kick the habit.”
He said: “I heard about vaping two
summers ago and I have not had one
puff of tobacco since then.
“By taking up vaping, I hope to keep
the grim reaper at bay for a little longer.
Perhaps by the time I run out of my 2.4%
nicotine supply, stronger nicotine may be
available on the black market, with all the
dangers that that will entail.”
Labour’s Lord Stoddart of Swindon said
he found it almost impossible to believe
that a government which had been so
anti-smoking should enact legislation to
implement the TPD and described the
ban on advertising as ‘absurd’.
Speaking for the government, Lord Prior
of Brampton said: “The new rules do
not prevent information being provided
to customers either online or in physical
retail outlets, nor does it ban online
forums, independently compiled reviews
or blogs.
“Some advertising will also be allowed,
such as point-of-sale, billboards and
leaflets, subject to the rules set out in
existing advertising codes to ensure
that these do not appeal to people aged
under 18 or non-users.
“It would be a massive unintended
consequence if, as a result of this
directive, fewer people gave up
smoking.”