The public health minister Andrea Leadsom's unethical behavior has prompted the vaping sector to write to the prime minister to voice their concerns.
in response to remarks she made before the Tobacco & Vapes Bill Committee, which has been deliberating evidence about the Bill's provisions as it moves through Parliament.
Leadsom said that she would not take into consideration a licensing program for vape businesses in response to the notion that one would be considered as part of the Bill's modifications.
Says she:
“I am grateful to the hon. Lady (Mary Glindon MP) for giving me the chance to give my personal opinion on licensing. It is a license for the vaping industry to get rid of the competition, make loads more money and focus even more on addicting children to vapes. It is the most cynical of all the cynical proposals I have seen.
“I am literally in no way in support of a licensing regime. I see lots of nods around the room; I hope that my personal view is clear and am glad that it seems to be shared by a number of Hon. Members.”
Andrea Leadsom MP
The industry and its trade association, the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), took offense at the remarks. UKVIA has been pushing for a licensing scheme that would be fully funded by the vape industry, giving Trading Standards access to upwards of £50 million annually to effectively police underage as well as illicit vape sales.
The industry provided lawmakers with a thorough structure for a license system for vape retailers and distributors earlier this year.
Consultation with the sector and other stakeholders, including a representative from Trading Standards, was part of the scheme's development.
John Dunne, the director general of UKVIA, said:
“I have spoken to many leaders in the UK vaping industry and the reaction is the same – consternation and anger.
“We need to take action to protect children from accessing vapes sold by unscrupulous retailers, as well as by inappropriate retailers such as hairdressers, barber shops and sweet shops.
“Enforcement of the laws, which are in place to protect young people from vaping, has failed to date due to lack of investment by the Government, so the only way to deal with the matter once and for all is to equip Trading Standards with the resources to police retailers.
“Our licensing scheme is designed to raise £50m+ for greater enforcement of the regulations, and more through fines of up to £10,000 for retailers and £100,000 for distributors.
“As to the Minister’s comments on the licensing scheme they are false and completely inappropriate.
“They are disrespectful to the legitimate independent vaping industry that wants to do the right thing, and have invested their life savings in helping save the lives of smokers.
“Indeed, the inspiration behind many of these independent vaping businesses has been personal loss through smoking.
“Contrary to the Minister’s ludicrous and unfounded statement that the vaping sector wants to use the licensing scheme to get rid of the competition and to make more money; it wants to eradicate the black market which is our greatest competition and represents most risk to children and adults; and we’re willing to bankroll it to the tune of £50m+.”
“We have written to the PM to challenge the inappropriateness of the Minister’s comments and to request an apology.”
John Dunne
He added:
“The government continues to ignore the fact that retailers are breaking the law with relative impunity and rather than enforce the law, it is focusing on new legislation in the blind hope that bad actors who are either manufacturing or selling vapes to underage children will stop.
“Not only is the rejection of a licensing scheme nonsensical for a number of reasons, it would also appear to be based on a desire to rush through undercooked legislation and a dislike of ‘not invented here’.”
John Dunne
In a letter to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the UKVIA has previously accused the government of preventing specialists in smoking cessation and members of the vaping community from testifying before MPs over the Bill.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) and Trading Standards (TS) have also been directed by the Department of Health and Social Care to end their main authority cooperation with the UKVIA, which aims to reduce sales of vape products to minors.
Through programs like the newly introduced Be Vape Vigilant initiative, which allows the public to report dishonest merchants, the UKVIA has taken the lead in childproofing access to e-cigarettes.
Since it was introduced at the end of the previous year, this has produced over 500 reports to Trading Standards.
Along with cooperation from Trading Standards, it has also released reassuring guidelines for merchants on how to stop underage sales of vape items.
Furthermore, the group pushed for the government to accept its rules for packaging, labeling, and flavor names a few years ago. These guidelines established unambiguous criteria for e-liquids, flavor names, and flavor descriptors that are sold in the UK market.
