UK Vaping Industry Association responds to the announcement on vaping by President Trump.

Dan Marchant, UK Vaping Industry Association spokesperson, said:

‘It is a shame that the US President has been poorly advised on the facts; this decision is based on misleading information and will only serve to deter smokers from making a life changing switch to a far less harmful alternative. In the UK, we are proud to be a standard bearer for a consumer-driven industry which has already helped millions of people across the world stop smoking. We will continue to work with the public health community in the UK to spread the facts about vaping, which Public Health England continue to advise is 95% less harmful than smoking and is the most effective way for UK’s remaining 7 million smokers to quit.”

On flavoured vaping products:

“Flavours play a hugely important role in encouraging smokers to switch to a less harmful product, and crucially in providing enough consumer variety to ensure those smokers stay switched. At the same time, there is no evidence of any link between flavours and youth vaping; in the UK recent stats show that rates of vaping amongst young people remains at less than 2% and is almost exclusively confined to those youths who regularly smoke.

As an Association, we want to ensure that rates of youth vaping remain very low but we are also clear that any move to ban flavours is not the way to do this. That’s why we will continue to work together as an industry to take the responsible steps necessary to prevent access to vaping by young people without deterring adult smokers from using a less harmful product. Our code of conduct insists on robust online age verification methods, a challenge 25 policy in-store and sets a clear expectation that products are only to be marketed towards adult smokers, vapers and consumers of other nicotine products.”

On US reports of illnesses linked to vaping:

“Whilst details remain unclear, it appears that the incidents in the USA are linked to people using illegal liquids, most likely black-market marijuana products (THC oils). Products such as these are illegal in the UK, which is why there have been no similar cases reported here and why there is no link to the flavoured, nicotine based vaping products smokers are using to quit. Public Health England have rightly drawn a distinction between the situation in the USA and the UK; in the UK there is a rigorously regulated market overseen by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. This means that vapers and smokers looking to switch to vaping can therefore have the confidence that the products they are purchasing are of a high standard and safe.

As a trade association, the UKVIA will continue our discussions with the public health community to help share best practice and advice. As always, we advise consumers to only purchase their vaping products from reputable retailers where they can seek expert advice if they require it. But it is important to remember that the advice from Public Health England remains the same – vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking and it is the most effective way for UK’s remaining 7 million smokers to quit.”

Ends.

For information:

In June 2019 Action on Smoking and Health found that just 1.6% of 11-18-year old’s used e-cigarettes more than once a week – the vast majority of these also smoke http://ash.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ASH-Factsheet-Youth-E-cigarette-Use-2019

To read the UKVIA’s industry-leading code of conduct please see here.

The UKVIA will continue to react and respond to events as further details emerge and have spokespeople available for print or broadcast comment. For enquiries, please call Clarence Mitchell on 07796 261623 or email ukvia@jbp.co.uk or Tweet @VapingIndustry.