2017 General Election Manifesto

Transcription

1 2017 General Election Manifesto

2 Introduction There is never a situation where it is better to smoke than it is to vape, and we now know that vaping is at least 95 per cent less harmful than smoking, according to Public Health England (PHE) and the Royal College of Physicians [1]. Currently there are at least 2.9 million vapers (e-cigarette users) in the UK. The majority of these vapers, 1.5 million, have given up smoking altogether. The remaining are smoking signi cantly fewer cigarettes. This should be a cause for celebration [2]. There is a thriving independent vape industry in the UK providing these consumers with a wide range of quality vape products. According to one recent study, vaping is now the fastest growing industry in the UK [3] and after the United States the UK is the second largest market for vape products in the world. At a local level, vape shops are one of the few areas of growth on our high streets [4]. IBVTA members collectively employ thousands of people throughout the UK. These companies manufacture locally and export globally. Increasingly these companies also provide opportunities for high skilled employment in the elds of engineering, design, toxicology, regulatory a airs, and science. The UK s independent vape industry has a global reputation for quality and innovation. Combine this with the enlightened approach many in the public health eld have taken towards vaping, and the positive attitudes within PHE, the MHRA, and the Department of Health, then the UK really does have the potential to become a global leader in vaping; both in terms of shaping the global policy environment, and also generating exports and boosting the UK economy. This tremendous opportunity will only be realised if the regulatory and scal environment in which our industry operates is proportionate. At present our industry faces a number of immediate challenges, most notably dealing with the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR) the UK s implementation of the revised EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). Whilst the UK has taken a broadly enlightened approach to implementation, o cials are constrained by the rules that the TPD sets down. These rules make it harder for smokers to switch to vaping, have sent some vapers back to smoking, reduced innovation and export markets, and have signi cantly increased costs. As a responsible trade association, we are not anti-regulation, on the contrary. Our members want to work with government to deliver robust, proportionate, and t for purpose regulation. In this manifesto, we set out the signi cant potential vaping o ers, to not only improve public health and save the taxpayer money, but also to provide a signi cant and much needed boost to the UK economy. Chairman, Independent British Vape Trade Association 2

3 The next government should Remove restrictions on bottle sizes. Remove restrictions on tank sizes. S NEW THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS NICOTINE WHICH IS A HIGHLY ADDICTIVE SUBSTANCE Revert to the advertising restrictions set out in the Committee on Advertising Practice guidance, originally published on the 9th October 2014 [5]. Current warning labels should only appear on products that actually contain nicotine at point of sale. Continue to resist EU attempts to introduce an EU-wide excise regime for vape products. After the UK has the left the EU, the Government should continue to oppose any calls for additional taxation on vape products. Remove restrictions on nicotine strengths. 20 mg When negotiating the UK s withdrawal from the EU, do not agree to any deal where the UK is still bound by EU tobacco control policy, including the TPD and the EU s tobacco excise regime. 3

4 Vaping the opportunity Each year 114,000 people die from smoking related illnesses, according to gures produced by the NHS [6]. These illnesses cost the NHS 2 billion per year [7]. In 2015/16 NHS England spent 33.2 million on prescription items to help people quit smoking [8]. Much of this taxpayers money is wasted as NRT products have a recognised failure rate of around 90 per cent [9]. This gure also does not include the money spent on wider Stop Smoking Services and anti-smoking campaigns. Vaping, by contrast, represents a market-based, user driven, public health insurgency. No taxpayers money has been spent, yet smokers are quitting, switching, and cutting down through the use of vape products. The number of people vaping has risen from virtually zero in 2008 to 2.9 million in In 2013 vaping replaced NRT products as the most popular tool for helping smokers quit, a fact recognised by PHE [10]. As vaping has increased in popularity the smoking rate has continued to decline. Figures produced by PHE, the Scottish Health Survey, and the Welsh Government show record low levels of smoking prevalence across the UK [11]. Vaping is also recognised as being at least 60 per cent more e ective in helping smokers to quit than conventional NRT products [12]. Further to this, the recently updated Cochrane review con rmed that vaping helped smokers quit with no signi cant side e ects [13]. Vaping is now recognised as the number one tool used by smokers to help them quit [14]. Despite this encouraging trend, there are still nearly nine million smokers in the UK and in the course of the next parliament 570,000 people will die from smoking related illnesses [15]. Based on the Government s own gures, in the course of the next parliament, NHS England will spend at least 166 million on prescription items to help people quit smoking [16]. If instead, the Government simply took a pro-active approach to encouraging smokers to switch to vaping, then not only would there be a much-needed saving for the health budget, there would also be far fewer smokers. If all the smokers in Britain stopped smoking cigarettes and started using e-cigarettes we would save ve million deaths in people who are alive today. It s a massive potential public health prize. Professor John Briton from the Royal College of Physicians 4

5 Apart from the obvious health gains of a smoker switching to vaping, there are also wider scal bene ts. In its Impact Assessment for the TPD, the Department of Health (England) estimates the average discounted value for the bene t of quitting smoking to 72,000 per successful quit arising from longer life [17]. This is a signi cant nancial gain for society and signi cantly exceeds the revenue lost to government from a smoker quitting ( 11,000) [18]. Vaping in numbers There are now at least 2.9 million vapers in the UK, of whom at least 1.5 million have given up smoking completely. 85% At least 85 per cent of the vape industry in the UK is made up of SMEs with no links to the tobacco or pharmaceutical industries [19]. There are 1,700 individual vape shops on the high streets, of which approximately 650 opened in 2016 [20]. On average, there are 4,462 vapers per Westminster parliamentary constituency [21]. 5

6 The problem As of the 20th May 2017, vape products in the UK are regulated under the TRPR The UK s implementation of the EU s TPD [22]. These regulations impose the following restrictions on the vape industry: E-liquid can only be sold in bottles no bigger than 10ml Tanks on vaping devices are restricted to a maximum of 2ml Nicotine strength is restricted to a maximum of 20mg/ml Severe restrictions on advertising of vape products All vape products to be sold with the following waring, even if they do not contain nicotine when sold: The product contains nicotine which is a highly addictive substance. All nicotine containing e-liquids to have been tested and noti ed with the MHRA As a responsible trade association, IBVTA is not opposed to regulation. However, many of the aforementioned restrictions do not stand up to objective scrutiny and far from making vaping more attractive to smokers or even less harmful compared to smoking, instead make vaping less attractive, more expensive, and will have no impact on the limited harm associated with vaping. In addition to disproportionate regulation, there is also a perception problem with vaping. Research undertaken by consumer analyst Mintel found that for the rst time since vaping was established in the UK, fewer smokers are switching to vaping, with usage dropping amongst quitters from 69 per cent to 62 per cent in 2016 [23]. According to the latest ASH/You Gov survey, in 2017 the proportion of smokers who said they did not know whether vaping was harmful relative to smoking was 29 per cent. The proportion who thought vaping was just as, or more harmful than smoking increased from nine per cent in 2013 to 22 per cent in 2017! The irony is that as public perceptions about vaping have been going in the wrong direction, the body of credible evidence in support of vaping has been growing. There are about nine million people in the UK who are addicted to nicotine, and at moment, our regulatory system continues to encourage them to use the most dangerous product (tobacco) to feed that addiction. Professor John Briton from the Royal College of Physicians 6

7 The solution The UK s independent vape industry has a global reputation for quality and innovation. Combine this with the enlightened approach many in the public health eld have taken towards vaping and the positive attitudes within PHE, the MHRA, and the Department of Health, then the UK really does have the potential to become a global leader in vaping; both in terms of shaping the global policy environment, and also in terms of generating exports and boosting the UK economy. In 2019, the UK will leave the European Union and this provides two opportunities: 1. The UK will regain its seat on the World Health Organisation and will therefore be free to in uence the global agenda on vaping. 2. The Government will be free to set its own regulatory regime for vaping and vape products. It is therefore vital, that when negotiating the UK s withdrawal from the EU, that the Government does not agree to any deal where the UK is still bound by EU tobacco control policy, including the TPD or the EU s tobacco excise regime. What we call for The TRPR regulates vape products as a tobacco product. Vaping is not smoking and vape products are not tobacco products. Therefore, rst and foremost, vape products need to be regulated under their own speci c regulation.. Testing and noti cation Any product manufactured to be inhaled by a vaper should be tested and noti ed. Tanks and bottles There is no rationale for the current restrictions imposed on tanks and bottle sizes. A new regulatory regime should remove the restrictions on tank size as is the case in France, Germany, and Italy, and the restrictions on bottle sizes. Nicotine strength At the heart of uid strength prohibition is the over stating of the base risk of nicotine. There should be an honest and objective appraisal of nicotine and its risks in the context of use in vaping to establish if there needs to be any constraint and if so what the strength and volume should be and why. The current restrictions on nicotine strength make it harder for heavier smokers to successfully switch to vaping and may send some existing users of higher strength e-liquids, back to smoking. A new regulatory regime should therefore remove these restrictions. 7

8 Advertising The independent vape industry must be free to responsibly market their products to adult smokers and existing vapers. A new regulatory regime should revert to the advertising restrictions as set out in the Committee on Advertising Practice guidance, originally published on the 9th October 2014 [24]. Warning labels Warning labels need to be factually accurate and therefore a new regulatory regime should only stipulate that the current warning labels appear on products that actually contain nicotine at point of sale. Taxation There is currently a debate taking place about the taxation of vape products, with the European Commission formally considering proposals for an EU-wide tobacco style excise regime for vape products. Currently vape products are taxed as the consumer product that they are and are subject to 20 per cent VAT in the UK. NRT products by comparison are only subject to ve per cent VAT. Vape products therefore start with adversely discriminatory tax treatment relative to NRT. This could be addressed by applying the VAT discount to vape products or removing it from NRT. It should not be further exacerbated by levying an additional tax on vape products. Taxes work brilliantly at suppressing demand. That is the justi cation for the very high levels of taxation on alcohol and tobacco. It therefore stands to reason, that any additional tax on vape products will curb take-up and see some vapers going back to smoking, after all that is exactly what happened in Italy and Portugal where additional taxes on vape products have been introduced. The examples of Italy and Portugal also demonstrates that these additional taxes produce very little income and force many vapers to shop in the informal economy. The Government rightly wants to move people away from smoking to less harmful alternatives. Vaping is demonstrably one such less harmful alternative that has already helped over one million people leave smoking behind for good. The overwhelming majority of these people will be buying their vape products from legitimate UK businesses that comply with regulation, which care about the quality of the products they sell, and which pay VAT and employee and business taxes. The Government should continue to resist EU attempts to introduce an EU-wide excise regime for vape products. After the UK has the left the EU, the Government should continue to oppose any calls for additional taxation for vape products. 8

9 The Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA) IBVTA is the professional voice of the UK s independent vape industry and the only one dedicated exclusively to the independent sector. All members of the IBVTA are free from any control or ownership by the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries. IBVTA members account for more than 50 per cent of the independent market of UK manufactured and imported devices and e-liquids, making IBVTA the largest trade association in this sector. IBVTA has been established to support the independent vape industry in the long run, representing all responsible and ethical independent vaping businesses in the UK, irrespective of the size of their companies and operations. The mission of IBVTA is to provide credible knowledge and guidance to support the independent vaping sector and promote constructive interaction between this industry sector and the scienti c community, vapers, regulators, policy makers, and the general public. IBVTA fosters research and manufacturing excellence in order to deliver a robust yet proportionate consumer regulatory landscape that adequately re ects the needs of vaping stakeholders and recognises vaping as a sector in its own right. Based in the heart of Westminster, but with a nation-wide membership, IBVTA is supported by a dedicated secretariat and a science and regulatory committee made up of experienced engineers, chemists, and pharmacists. At the EU level, IBVTA is a founding member of the European Coalition for Independent Vape (ECIV). To nd out more please visit: Vaping your questions answered Is vaping less harmful than smoking? Yes. According to independent studies by PHE and The Royal College of Physicians vaping is recognised as being at least 95 per cent less harmful than smoking. This position is also supported by The Royal College of General Practitioners and many other independent medical and public health bodies. Is vaping an e ective tool for helping someone quit smoking? Yes. Vaping is recognised by the Government as being the number one tool used by smokers to help them quit. Vaping is also recognised as being at least 60 per cent more e ective in helping smokers to quit than conventional NRT products which have a recognised failure rate of around 90 per cent. Do we know what is in e-liquid? Yes. E-liquid contains: nicotine (though not always), propylene glycol, glycerine, and avourings. 9

10 Is nicotine, when consumed by a vaper in e-liquid dangerous? Pure nicotine is a toxic substance and should be handled with care. The vast majority of e-liquid on the UK market is below 2.0 per cent nicotine strength. Warnings of serious toxicological incidents resulting from e-liquid exposure are unjusti ed and not supported by available studies. E-liquid has a very low level of toxicity whether it is 18mg/ml or 36mg/ml. The vast majority of e-liquids will contain pharmaceutical grade nicotine. It is MHRA and FDA approved and the same as that used in NRT products. Nicotine is addictive when consumed via cigarette smoke. However, as Professor Linda Bauld and others have made clear, nicotine when consumed in a form other than tobacco is not a particularly addictive substance. Robert West, Professor of Health Psychology and Director of Tobacco Studies at University College London s Department of Epidemiology and Public Health said, E-cigarettes are about as safe as you can get. We know about the health risks of nicotine. Nicotine is not what kills you when you smoke tobacco. Vaping is probably about as safe as drinking co ee. Recently a number of bodies including ASH and the Royal Society of Public Health called for more to be done to ensure the public understand that nicotine is not the deadly component in cigarettes. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the MHRA have ruled that long term use of nicotine is not detrimental to the health of the user. A ruling that was speci cally sought to allow clinicians to prescribe nicotine containing products to pregnant women. Do children (under 18s) regularly vape and is it a gateway to smoking? No. The key issue in all of this is not how many children try vaping, but how many vape regularly and how many having tried vaping, go on to smoking. Recent research produced by ASH demonstrated that children are not vaping in signi cant numbers. The survey found that regular use of vape products amongst children and young people is rare and is con ned almost entirely to those who currently or have previously smoked. Of those young people that do vape, the majority use nicotine free products. Cancer Research UK looked in detail at two major studies into vaping amongst young people in Wales, they concluded, Looking speci cally at two studies dedicated to the use of vaping devices amongst young people in Wales only a minority of teenagers who try vaping go on to become regular users. And the majority of those who do use the devices regularly were already smokers. Furthermore, there is no evidence of vaping acting as a gateway to smoking. If there were smoking rates would be rising as vaping has become more popular, instead smoking rates are at their lowest levels, including amongst children. According to ASH, the most recent survey found the lowest recorded smoking rates among children ever: only 18 per cent of 11 to 15-year-olds had tried smoking in 2014 compared with 42 per cent in (continued) 10

11 In addition to this, new research from the Centre for Substance Use Research concluded that there was no evidence of a gateway e ect from vaping, and furthermore, that vaping may actually contribute the de-normalization of smoking and thus further discourage tobacco use. Sales and proxy purchases of vape products to/for those under the age of 18 is against the law in England, Scotland, and Wales and will soon be against the law in Northern Ireland. Is passive vaping damaging to the health of non-vapers? No. In a recent House of Lords debate the Government made its position on this subject clear: The levels of toxicants in e-cigarette vapour were very much lower than those found in conventional cigarette smoke and not considered to pose any signi cant passive inhalation risk. The Government s position was recently supported by The Royal College of General Practitioners who said: There are no identi ed hazards to bystanders. In addition, research from PHE and The University of Stirling concluded: The evidence to date does not support a policy to prohibit vaping in public and such policies could have signi cant unintended consequences by sustaining the use of smoked tobacco. Aren t the World Health Organisation and The British Medical Association critical of vaping? Both the WHO and BMA recognise that vaping is less harmful than smoking and that if a smoker can only quit through vaping then they should do so. However, both organisations support a much more heavily regulated environment for vaping and are inclined to be overly cautious about vaping in general. The positions taken by the WHO and BMA are extreme and are not supported by the growing body of credible and independent evidence. Most recently, the WHO position on vaping was publicly attacked by amongst others: Professor John Britton (UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, University of Nottingham), Professor Ann McNeill (UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, King's College London), and Professor Linda Bauld (UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, University of Stirling). Is vaping in the UK regulated? Yes. Vaping in the UK is heavily regulated, and in some instances vaping is more heavily regulated than some tobacco products. The primary regulation for vape products in the UK is the TRPR. These regulations place restrictions on nicotine strength, advertising, bottle and tank sizes. They also impose legal requirements on companies to test devices and liquids and to notify the results to the authorities. Is vaping controlled and dominated by the tobacco industry? No. In the UK, the IBVTA estimates that at least 85 per cent of the total market for vape products is controlled by the independent market, leaving only 15 per cent to the tobacco industry. Evidence would indicate that the share of the market controlled by the independent industry continues to grow. 11

12 References [1] and [2] les/documents/ash_891.pdf [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] (tobacco economics) [8] [9] Dr Jed Rose, Director of the Duke Centre for Smoking Cessation and a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Centre, speaking at the Global Forum on Nicotine (Warsaw, Saturday 6th June 2015): [10] [11] and [12] Study carried out on 5,000 smokers, by Professor Robert West looking at the success rate of di erent methods to stop smoking: nicotine gum, nicotine patches, nothing, or e-cigarettes. Reported on BBC Breakfast 28 April [13] [14] [15] A xed-term Parliament lasts ve years so these gures are based on a simple x5 multiplication of 114,000. [16] Each year, NHS England spends 33.2 million on prescription items to help people quit smoking. A xed-term Parliament lasts ve years so these gures are based on a simple x5 multiplication. [17] Department of Health (England). Impact Assessment for Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), April 2016 paragraph 76 and Annex A. On average, each additional non-smoker will gain 1.2 life years (discounted). Each life-year gained is valued at 60,000 based upon studies of what members of the public are on average willing to spend to reduce their own mortality risk, or to improve their own health outcomes. [18] Department of Health (England). Impact Assessment for Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), April Annex A page 72. [19] Analysis of the UK vaping market, undertaken by the Independent British Vape Trade Association. [20] Figures supplied by ECigIntelligence. [21] 2.8 million vapers divided by 650 parliamentary constituencies. [22] [23] [24] 12

13 The Independent British Vape Trade Association T: +44 (0) E: W: Follow IBVTA on Twitter: 13