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** 10 March 2023
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** UK
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** Ministers to set out plans to make England smoke -free by 2030 in “coming weeks” (#1)
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** CTSI statement on current issues relating to the sale of vapes in the UK (#2)
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** Big tobacco, not Elf Bar, will be the real winner from disposable vapes (#3)
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** Parliamentary Activity
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** Debate: National No Smoking Day (#4)
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** Link of the week
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** Parliamentary debate: National No Smoking Day (#5)
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** UK
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** Ministers to set out plans to make England smoke -free by 2030 in “coming weeks”
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** The Government will set out its response to a major review aimed at making England smoke-free by 2030 “in the coming weeks”, a minister has said.

Health minister Neil O’Brien told MPs the Government would soon bring forward its plans based on the recommendations of Dr Javed Khan, aimed at practically eliminating smoking across England by the end of the decade.

Dr Khan’s review, published last June, said smoking should be banned in outdoor spaces and that ministers will not meet the smoke-free target by 2030 without urgent reforms.

In a Westminster Hall debate yesterday, Conservative MP Bob Blackman pressed ministers to reveal when they would respond to the “clear road map” to meet the smoke-free plan, suggesting the Government had delayed too long.

Mr O’Brien said: “As many in this House have highlighted, last year the Government asked Dr Javed Khan to undertake his independent review to help the Government meet its smoke-free 2030 ambition and reduce the devastation that smoking causes. He asks when we will set out our response and in the coming weeks I will avail a set of proposals to realise the smoke-free 2030 ambition and response to the recommendations in the Khan review.”

ASH chief executive Deborah Arnott said: “Exactly nine months ago the Khan recommendations to the Government on making smoking obsolete were published.”

“That’s the right length of time for a baby, but far too long for a Government strategy, particularly when the deadline to deliver the smoke-free ambition is 2030, and the Government itself admitted that it would be extremely challenging to achieve.”

“The public health minister promised Parliament this afternoon that he will announce the further and faster action needed to deliver a smoke-free 2030 in coming weeks.”

“We will watch with interest to see if he can deliver on this promise.”

Source: Independent, 9 March 2023
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Read Here ([link removed])


** CTSI statement on current issues relating to the sale of vapes in the UK
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**
The Chartered Trading Standards Institute has released a statement claiming, “[...] CTSI is very concerned about the volume of non-compliant vapes that are currently in circulation.”

The statements says, “The current [UK] regulations specify that vapes are required to have tanks to a capacity of no more than 2ml; a nicotine strength of no more than 20mg/ml; and their labels display manufacturer details and health warnings. Any vapes that have contents exceeding these amounts are illegal products and should not be sold to consumers.”

“While there is no definitive health risk to using non-compliant vapes, the MHRA strongly advises consumers not to use them as them as the true content is unknown, along with any possible health risks.”

“Trading Standards teams across the UK are overwhelmed by the volume of non-compliant vapes being sold by retailers, with 1.4 tonnes of illegal vapes seized in the last six months of 2022 in the North East of England alone. While Trading Standards Officers are working tirelessly to try and combat the tidal wave of non-compliant vapes being sold by retailers, there is a wider issue of faults in the supply chain.”

The release of this statement was covered in the Today Show on BBC Radio 4
and featured Kate Pike, leading officer for vaping at CTSI [1:52:47-1:57:37].
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**
See also: CTSI - CTSI statement on current issues relating to the sale of vapes in the UK ([link removed])
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Listen Here ([link removed])


** Big tobacco, not Elf Bar, will be the real winner from disposable vapes

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** Reporter for the Grocer, Jimmy Nichols, argues big tobacco may benefit from controversy of popular single-use e-cigarette brand, Elf Bar.

Nichols highlights Philip Morris International’s new single use vape, “Veeba”, as evidence the tobacco company has become, “the third of the four tobacco giants to decide ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’”. “It’s notable that JTI is the only remaining tobacco giant to have stayed away from disposables”, Nichols continues.

Nichols concludes, “[…] if the likes of PMI get ahead of concerns [about the environmental impact] by tackling them head-on – and they certainly have the deep pockets and experience to do so – they could secure an advantage in the growing disposable market. ElfBar may have lit the fuse on disposable vaping. But as might be said of another controversial industry, in the long run, the house always wins.”

Source: The Grocer, 7 March 2023
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Read Here ([link removed])


** Parliamentary Activity
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** Debate: National No Smoking Day

Yesterday, Bob Blackman MP, Chairman of the APPG on Smoking and Health, led a backbench debate to coincide with No Smoking Day where MPs debated the impact of smoking and the need for a new Tobacco Control Plan.

Mr Blackman highlighted:
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** The significant health harms associated with tobacco smoking; that every day in England, 150 new cases of cancer are diagnosed as a direct consequence of smoking, a person is admitted to hospital with a smoking-related illness every single minute, and smoking kills 78,000 people a year.
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** The impacts of smoking during pregnancy on the health of children.
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** Smoking’s association with increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s. Mr Blackman, cited new evidence that “ranked smoking third out of nine modifiable risk factors leading to dementia”.
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Mr Blackman called on the Government:
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** To take “urgent action to tackle this damaging practice [of smoking].”
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** To confirm when the tobacco control plan for England will be published. Noting, ““Soon” is not good enough.”
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** Reaffirmed the APPG on Smoking and Health’s call for a “polluter pays” levy on the tobacco industry “to pay for the damage its products cause to our nation’s health, and for the strain on the NHS”.
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** Mary Glindon, Labour MP for North Tyneside:
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** Acknowledged concerns over the rise in under-age vaping and the environmental impact of single-use vapes, but noted the efficacy of e-cigarettes as a less harmful alternative to smoking for adults.
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Liz Twist, Labour MP for Blaydon, and Mary Kelly Foy, Labour MP for City of Durham:
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** Urged the Government to publish a new Tobacco Control Plan, acknowledging the recommendations made in the Khan Review.
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**
Andrew Gwynne, Shadow Public Health Minister:
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** Asked the Government to confirm that they intend “to publish the tobacco control plan, and when it will be released?”
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** Stated, “the next Labour Government will consult on all Javed Khan’s smoke-free 2030 recommendations and put prevention at the heart of everything they do.”
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**
Responding for the Government, Minister for Primary Care and Public Health, Neil O’Brien:
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** Confirmed, “tobacco and tobacco control will be threaded through the major conditions strategy.”
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** Said, “last year the Government asked Dr Javed Khan to undertake an independent review to help to meet the smokefree 2030 ambition and reduce the devastation that smoking causes. My hon. Friend asked when we will set out our response. In the coming weeks, I will unveil a set of proposals to realise the smokefree 2030 ambition and to respond to the Khan review’s recommendations."
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** Concluded, "I thank hon. Members for their patience. Although I cannot divulge the specifics of the proposals at this time, I assure hon. Members that they are grounded in the best evidence on reducing tobacco use and its associated harms. They are bold, innovative and ambitious, and we have carefully considered the Khan review’s recommendations as part of the process. I look forward to the opportunity to share more details with hon. Members very soon and to set out more details of our road map to a smokefree 2030."
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**
Source: Hansard, 9 March 2023
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Read Full Transcript ([link removed])


** Link of the week
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** Parliamentary debate: National No Smoking Day

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** Led by Bob Blackman, Conservative MP for Harrow East and Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health, MPs yesterday debated the impact of smoking and the need for a new Tobacco Control Plan in the House of Commons, to coincide with national No Smoking Day.
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