While it seems like a long time ago, the UK was once the darling of vaping regulations. Other countries looked upon Britain with envy as various politicians and health bodies threw their support behind harm reduction. However, recent decisions in Ireland provide a stark lesson in how quickly consumer choice and liberty can slip. UK vapers must pay heed.
The situation for Irish vapers is dire. Recently, the Irish cabinet approved legislation that will come into effect near the end of the year, which will ban the sale, manufacture, and import of single-use or disposable vapes and limit vaping flavours to tobacco.
The new legislation will also include the following restrictions:
These outrageous and draconian measures were passed despite a public consultation that opposed many of these measures.
Of the 15,821 responses, over 90% were current vapers. While the government suggested that these figures skewed the report, they actually highlight the indifference of the non-vaping public, outside a few health professionals and misguided anti-vaping advocacy groups.
By contrast, the Irish vapers are highly engaged and interested in preserving their rights to access nicotine in the way that they want. Additionally, they also recognise the potential of vapes for people who currently smoke.
However, Taoiseach Simon Harris has a different view. He claimed that “vaping is the revenge of the tobacco industry.” It’s a strange comment to make for a few reasons.
Being this misinformed about the market that you have power over is a frightening indictment of Harris’ suitability for the job. The fact that he thinks that Big Tobacco is on a mission of vengeance is unhinged.
In the summer of last year, an Ipsos poll revealed that about two-thirds of the Irish public supported a disposable vape ban. Much of this sentiment is driven by the moral panic around disposables and the fictitious belief these products are a gateway to tobacco smoking. Another dimension that must be considered is the environmental waste products by these single-use products.
Keeping vapes out of landfills requires innovative thinking. The outright banning of the product is a testament to a lack of imagination among lawmakers. Deposit return schemes have worked for beverage containers in many European countries. For example, Finland has a 97% return rate for reusable bottles and over 98% for cans and glass bottles.
Applying these principles to disposable vapes could reduce their impact while still allowing people to quit or enjoy vapes. The other reason why keeping disposables around is best summed up in this X post by Charles Gardener.
The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, also announced details of the flavour ban. All flavours will be banned, except for the notoriously unpopular tobacco. However, Donnelly did leave open the possibility that the “minister of the day could expand that if required.”
We spoke to the Irish advocacy group Respect Vapers to get their thoughts about the importance of flavours for vapers in the country, the general impact of e-cigarettes, and the barmy proposal of a €400 program to pay people to quit smoking.
Here’s what they had to say.
It always amazes people who vape that this Government continues to ignore the benefits of flavoured vapes in helping people in Ireland to quit smoking.
There are over 300,000 people vaping in Ireland to give up cigarettes. The Government’s Healthy Ireland research indicates that over 160,000 people have already quit smoking thanks to vapes.
The Healthy Ireland research also highlights that vaping is the most successful aid to help quit tobacco, more successful than nicotine therapies, including sprays, patches and gums.
The Government must take into account the success of vapes in the UK in dramatically reducing the number of people addicted to smoking. A survey published by ASH in August found that 3 million smokers quit in the UK thanks to vaping.
Sweden and New Zealand have also been successful and this was achieved by using all supports available, including flavoured vapes, to help smokers quit. Adopting this approach, Sweden reduced the number of people smoking in that country from 15% to 5.6% in 15 years.
It is clear that a modern and progressive approach must be taken to make Ireland tobacco-free. Flavoured vapes are a success and must be included in the action plan to help people stop smoking. It makes no sense to offer smokers €400 in instalments to help them quit.
These people are addicted to tobacco, and with cigarettes costing almost €20 a pack, it is clear that money paid out in instalments will not help them. Why waste Government funding on this idea when favoured vapes have a proven track record of helping people stop?
Sadly for groups like Respect Vapers, the Irish government has little interest in acknowledging the instrumental role of vapes in reducing smoking rates. Around 16% of Irish adults smoke, but that number is around 21.6% for people in what the Office of National Statistics defines as existing in “semi-skilled and unskilled manual occupations; unemployed and lowest grade occupations.”
Reducing access and appeal of vapes to these communities effectively condemns more than one in five people to a lifetime of avoidable death and illness. There is a lack of compassion for these people, which is, frankly, disgusting.
Ireland shows what is possible when you let the lunatics run the asylum. The Republic’s swift and unceremonious dismantling of vape consumer rights should be a wake-up call for UK vapers.
Keir Starmer’s new Labour government has made the right noises about taking a data-driven, proactive approach to public health. Vapes provide a clear intervention for people who smoke. What’s more, they also stop experimental teens from taking up the habit. Policy must reflect these facts.