E-cigarette reform and fake outcry
The Science and Technology Select Committee have published their report about e-cigarettes and it is rather good. Like most sensible people, they acknowledge that the EU's Tobacco Products Directive has set the vaping market back and suggest that the government should abandon the pointless and petty vaping regulations in Article 20 after Brexit. They also suggest repealing the crazy ban on snus, encourage employers to permit vaping in the workplace and reject the idea of taxing vape juice.
As I said in Vaping Solutions last year, this is the lowest of the low-hanging fruit for Brexit. Never mind the libertarian arguments for a moment, the health arguments for repealing legislation that makes it more difficult for smokers to quit are difficult to quibble with.
That hasn't stopped the usual suspects from throwing their toys out of their pram, however. The Daily Mail covered the story on its front page today with a claim about a non-existent 'outcry'.
Inevitably, the 'outcry' comes from Simon 'caps lock' Capewell and Martin 'toad' McKee, two dinosaurs who pop up with their nonsense whenever e-cigarettes are in the news. The fanatical anti-vaping hack Sarah Knapton sought them out for her Telegraph article, in which McKee is quoted as saying:
"Those involved in tobacco control outside England will be amazed at these conclusions although not entirely surprised as the committee took oral evidence almost entirely from individuals who are strong supporters of e-cigarettes."
The committee took evidence from, amongst others, Deborah Arnott (Action on Smoking and Health), Hazel Cheeseman (Action on Smoking and Health), John Newton (Public Health England), Gillian Leng (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), Steve Brine MP (public health minister), Tim Baxter (Department of Health), David Harrison (UK Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment), Jamie Brown (Deputy Director, Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, University College London), Ian Hudson (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) and Heather Thomson (Nottinghamshire NHS).
If all these people are 'strong supporters of e-cigarettes' then maybe there's a lesson there for throwbacks like McKee?
In the same article, Capewell adds some bollocks about 'passive vaping' and claims that Big Tobacco is 'using e-cigarettes as a 'Trojan Horse' to normalise the act of smoking'. These two clowns will keep fighting to the bitter end but they are further from the mainstream than ever. History will be the judge of them and their 'outcry'.
I wrote about the need for e-cig reform in today's City AM. Click to enlarge.
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