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** 20 March 2023
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** UK
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** UK health expert raises alarm at vaping among teenagers (#1)
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** Tory MP faces Commons suspension over lobbying investigation (#2)
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** Scotland: Alcohol industry 'trying to obstruct public health policy' (#3)
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** International
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** UK ambassador to Yemen took part in opening of Jordanian cigarette factory (#4)
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** Parliamentary Activity
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** Written questions (#5)
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** UK
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** UK health expert raises alarm at vaping ‘epidemic’ among teenagers

Dr Mike McKean, vice-president of policy for the Royal College of Paediatricians and Child Health, has raised concerns that vaping was becoming an “epidemic” among teenagers.

In recent months, the clamour of calls from campaigners for tighter rules around the advertising and packaging of vapes has been growing louder. They argue that these should mirror tobacco, including plain packaging, health warnings and behind the counter display, while enforcement should be toughened to crack down on shops selling to under-18s.

Last month, England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, described the marketing of vapes as “utterly unacceptable”.

McKean said that companies were taking “an insidious and quite disturbing approach” to their marketing, using sweet flavours and targeting children through colourful packaging.

This was reflected in research from King’s College London and ASH, which found that removing branding from e-cigarettes could deter teenagers from buying them without reducing their appeal to adults. Their study of 2,469 11- to 18-year-olds and 12,026 adults found that teenagers were more likely to say their peers would have no interest in vapes when marketed in standardised white or green packaging, whereas adults said their interest was not reduced.

Eve Taylor, the study’s first author from King’s, said “the ideal situation is to ensure teenagers aren’t tempted to take up vaping in the first place, while not deterring adults from using vapes to stop smoking”, and that the study suggested removing branding was a means of achieving that. The study’s senior author Dr Katherine East, also from King’s, raised the point that using the same packaging as tobacco cigarettes – standardised green – could risk reinforcing the misperception that vaping is as dangerous as smoking.

Experts said that Wednesday’s spring budget could have been a prime moment to introduce tighter regulation and other measures to deter children, such as a tax. In particular, they think disposable vapes – which are most popular with children – should be targeted.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are clear that children should not use vapes and have introduced regulations to prevent them from vaping.

“The law protects children from vapes through restricting sales to over-18s only, limiting nicotine content, refill bottle and tank sizes, labelling requirements, and through advertising restrictions.

“Adverts for vapes and their components are prohibited from featuring anything likely to be of particular appeal to people under the age of 18, such as characters or celebrities they would be familiar with.”

Source: The Guardian, 18 March 2023

Editorial note: ASH has set out policy recommendations to address youth vaping see policy brief on vaping ([link removed]) .
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** Tory MP faces Commons suspension over lobbying investigation

A senior Tory MP faces suspension from the House of Commons after an investigation was launched into claims that he broke lobbying rules during the Covid pandemic.

Earlier this month, The Telegraph revealed that Steve Brine, the chairman of the health and social care select committee, lobbied the chief executive of the NHS and ministers on behalf of a firm paying him £1,600 a month for “strategic advice”.

Leaked WhatsApp messages showed that, in February 2021, Mr Brine told Michael Gove that he had been “trying for months” to convince the NHS to hire anaesthetists through Remedium, a recruitment firm.

He said he had contacted Lord Stevens, then the chief executive of NHS England, and the Department of Health and Social Care.

He now faces an investigation by Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary standards commissioner, into whether he broke rules over “paid advocacy” and “declaration of an interest”.

Mr Brine’s declarations to the MPs’ register of financial interests show he was paid £1,600 a month by Remedium between July 2020 and December 2021. The parliamentary code of conduct says MPs cannot lobby ministers on behalf of organisations by which they have been paid within six months.

The former health minister was referred to the parliamentary standards commissioner over the issue by Anneliese Dodds, the chairman of the Labour Party, two weeks ago.

Source: The Telegraph, 17 March 2023
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** Scotland: Alcohol industry 'trying to obstruct public health policy'

Industry claims about the damage curbs on alcohol marketing would do to the economy and businesses in Scotland should be treated with a “healthy degree of caution”, a charity has insisted.

A Scottish Government consultation seeking people’s initial views on prohibiting booze adverts and alcohol sponsorship closed earlier this month and sparked an outcry from big players such as Diageo and Budweiser.

More than 100 firms which produce alcohol signed an open letter to Holyrood ministers saying “Don’t destroy Scotland’s whisky industry” as they feared a “blanket ban” on alcohol marketing and sponsorship could dent their profits.

But Alison Douglas, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, has said she has serious concerns about the alcohol industry fighting for a “seat at the table” over the issue when they have an inherent conflict of interest against reducing people’s drink intake.

Douglas told the Sunday National: “The alcohol industry is reliant on people drinking above the risk guidelines for significant proportion of its profits. So there is this inherent conflict between policies which improve public health and these health-harming industries. This is a global attempt – as the tobacco industry did before it – to obstruct progressive public health policies. The single biggest concern I have about the recent debate is the alcohol industry is making a claim for a seat at the table. The industry are not experts on public health, they’re not experts on alcohol harm, and they have an inherent conflict of interest in reducing alcohol consumption.”

She added how she feels the industry is being “selective” about data it is using to suggest there isn’t a problem with drink in Scotland.

Source: The National, 19 March 2023
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** International
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** UK ambassador to Yemen took part in opening of Jordanian cigarette factory

A UK ambassador took part in the opening ceremony of a Jordanian cigarette factory part-owned by British American Tobacco (BAT) and praised the new facility in a televised interview, in the latest example of British diplomats breaching strict guidelines against mixing with the tobacco industry overseas.

The envoy stood at the ribbon as it was cut and later appeared in promotional material on the tobacco company’s website, but no record of his presence at the event was kept by the British embassy in Amman because the event was not considered a “formal meeting”.

It was discovered later by a researcher who monitors Arabic-language media – and who waged a year-long freedom of information (FoI) campaign to have the Foreign Office confirm it.

The 2019 incident, which the ambassador said was an honest mistake, is part of a pattern of British officials appearing to promote the interests of big tobacco in developing countries, in contrast to the situation at home, where the UK is considered a world leader in restricting interactions between the government and cigarette companies.

Smoking rates in the Middle East have grown rapidly over the past decades, just as cigarette use has been declining in Europe and the US. The Guardian revealed in 2020 that Jordan’s tobacco consumption rates were the highest ever recorded anywhere by a World Health Organization survey.

The opening of the factory by the Yemeni cigarette manufacturer Kamaran, about a third of which is owned by BAT, was reported in a Yemeni newspaper, which noted that the event was attended by several Arab ambassadors as well as the then British ambassador to Yemen, Michael Aron.

Source: The Guardian, 19 March 2023
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** Parliamentary Activity
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** Written questions
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** Asked by Dr Matthew Offord, Conservative, Hendon

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to convene a roundtable of companies that manufacture disposable vaping devices on steps to reduce littering and potential environmental damage from vaping devices.

Answered by Rebecca Pow, Minister for Environmental Quality and Resilience

The Government is aware that the use of disposable vaping products has increased substantially in recent years and is concerned about their impact on the environment. Defra and the Department for Health and Social Care are working closely together on developing an evidence base to better understand those impacts. There are no immediate plans to establish a round table discussion with the companies that manufacture these products.

Defra officials and relevant regulators have engaged with the vaping industry, including the Vaping Industry Association. These engagements have been in accordance with the UK’s commitment to article 5.3 of the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco.

Source: Hansard, 16 March 2023
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** Asked by Esther McVey, Conservative, Tatton

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has issued guidance to schools on reducing the use of e-cigarettes in schools.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department's policies of the accessibility of vapes in schools.

Answered by Nick Gibb, Minister of State for Schools

Schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy that sets out what is expected of all pupils, including what items are banned from school premises.

Schools have the autonomy to decide which items should be banned from their premises, and these can include e-cigarettes or vapes. School staff can search pupils for banned items as outlined in the Department’s Searching, Screening and Confiscation guidance, which is available here:

[link removed].

The relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance states that, in both primary and secondary school, pupils should be taught the facts concerning legal and illegal harmful substances and associated risks, including smoking, alcohol use, and drug-taking.

To support schools to deliver this content effectively, the Department has published a suite of teacher training modules, including one on drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, which makes specific reference to e-cigarettes and vaping.

Source: Hansard, 17 March 2023
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** Asked by Lord Storey, Liberal Democrat, Life peer

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of children smoking e-cigarettes; and what plans they have to put an age limit on sales.

Answered by Lord Markham, Minister for the Lords

There has been an increase in vaping and e-cigarette use amongst children aged 11 to 15 years old, as shown in the latest National Health Service Smoking Drinking and Drug Use survey data, which is available in an online-only format.

This found that in 2021, 9% of pupils aged 11 to 15 years old were current vapers, compared to 6% in 2018, and 4% were regular users, compared to 2% in 2018. We already have an age limit on sales of vapes, with the Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015 making it an offence to sell vapes to persons aged under 18 and for an adult to purchase them on behalf of a person aged under 18.

Source: Hansard, 17 March 2023
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** Asked by Lord Storey, Liberal Democrat, Life peer

To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the companies that produce and sell e-cigarettes (1) have, and (2) have not, signed up to a voluntary code to seek a licence so that the products meet standards of safety and quality.

Answered by Lord Markham, Minister for the Lords

The Department does not collect this information. Producers wishing to supply vapes and e-cigarettes on the United Kingdom market must comply with the product standards and safety requirements set out in the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016. This includes notifying their products to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency before they are placed on the UK market.

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** Source: Hansard, 17 March 2023
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.

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