Representatives of the UK’s vaping industry and consumers are due to give evidence later today to the House of Commons’ Select Committee on Science and Technology.
The Committee, made up of a cross-party group of MPs, is scheduled to start its meeting at 17.05.
It has been examining the impact of electronic cigarettes on human health, and, as part of that examination, their effectiveness as a stop-smoking tool.
It has examined also the regulatory landscape.
John Dunne (pictured), director of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), will be giving evidence in front of the Committee alongside Fraser Cropper, chairperson of the Independent British Vape Trade Association and Sarah Jakes, chairperson of the New Nicotine Alliance.
“This is a great opportunity to present the industry’s perspective on how regulation impacts the sector on a day to day basis, both the good and the bad,” Dunne was quoted as saying as part of a press note issued by the UKVIA yesterday.
“E-cigarettes are valuable tools which will reduce the number of people smoking conventional cigarettes. Yet, despite the consensus from leading health bodies that vaping is likely to be at least 95 percent less harmful, there is still a huge amount of misinformation out there.
“We are hoping that our evidence … will inform MPs on how they can direct regulation to help us in our mission to inform the 7.6 million smokers in the UK – and the 40 percent of smokers who haven’t even tried it – of the potential health benefits of switching to vaping.”
The UKVIA said the UK had become an early adopter of vaping technologies, with the nation’s smokers keen to adopt an alternative to smoking.
‘By 2012 there were already 700,000 vapers in the UK and in 2017 this figure reached nearly three million people, over half of whom have given up smoking entirely.’
Vapers to have their say
