Forest Ireland has slammed a government health plan that aims to extend the smoking ban to outdoor areas.
“There is no justification for banning smoking in outdoor spaces,” said John Mallon, spokesman for Forest Ireland, in response to the Healthy Ireland Strategic Action Plan 2021–2025, which was published May 11. “Smoking in the open air poses no health risk to anyone other than the smoker. Coming out of the pandemic, the last thing the hospitality industry needs is the threat of smoking being prohibited outside pubs, cafes and bars.”
The action plan would “promote and oversee implementation of the Tobacco Free Ireland Policy,” which includes “progress[ing] and expand[ing] the creation of tobacco-free spaces in community settings,” along with other targeted actions.
“Tobacco is a legal product, and smokers have a right to light up in outdoor spaces without restrictions designed to force them to quit,” Mallon said in a Forest press note. “The war on smoking has become a war on ordinary people who just want to be left alone to live their lives as they choose without excessive government intervention.”
To mark the last week of VApril, the U.K.’s annual vaping awareness month now in its fourth year, the smokers’ lobby group Forest is hosting a webinar on April 28 to discuss “Should smokers switch to vaping?”
“E-cigarettes have been a mainstream consumer product for the best part of a decade, and vaping is credited with encouraging millions of smokers to switch to what evidence suggests is a significantly reduced-risk product,” says Forest director Simon Clark.
“Despite that, millions more seem resistant to switching, and the latest figures suggest that the number of vapers in the U.K. may have fallen from a peak of 3.6 million to 3 million. The question is, why?”
Speakers at the virtual meeting include John Dunne, CEO of the U.K. Vaping Industry Association; Joe Dunne, spokesperson for Respect Vapers in Ireland; and Daniel Pryor, head of programs at the Adam Smith Institute think tank.
“Confirmed smokers are often excluded from public debates about vaping and smoking cessation,” says Clark. “It’s misguided because their views are essential to understanding why more smokers don’t want to quit or switch.
Confirmed smokers are often excluded from public debates about vaping and smoking cessation.
“We believe adults should have the freedom to make informed choices, so this is an opportunity for confirmed smokers to learn more about reduced-risk products, and for vaping advocates to understand why many smokers still prefer combustible tobacco and to respect that choice.”
Forest’s webinar will take place on April 28 from 18:00–19:00 U.K. time.
For further information and to register, click here.
An overwhelming majority of adults in Ireland think that purchasing cigarettes and tobacco from the black market or other countries is “understandable” given the high cost of tobacco sold legally domestically.
According to a survey conducted by iReach for the smokers’ group Forest Ireland, 70 percent of adults agree that it is “somewhat understandable” (40 percent) or “very understandable” (30 percent) that smokers might choose not to buy cigarettes and tobacco from legitimate retailers in Ireland.
That view was supported by 85 percent of smokers and two-thirds (67 percent) of non-smokers. Only one in five (20 percent) of all adults found it not understandable.
The survey, which was conducted Sept. 24-30, also found that 65 percent of adults think the current level of tobacco duty—almost 80 percent on an average pack of cigarettes in Ireland—is either too high (22 percent), a little high (11 percent) or about right (32 percent).
Only one in four (25 percent) think tobacco duty is too low (21 percent) or a little low (4 percent).
Forest Ireland is urging the government to reject calls to increase the tax on tobacco. In its submission ahead of next week’s Budget, the group called on Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe to “give smokers a break.”
“A further tax hike will encourage even more smokers to buy tobacco abroad or on the black market because there is very little stigma associated with such transactions,” said Forest Ireland spokesman John Mallon.
The Freedom Organization for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco (Forest) released a new report stating that “smoking is no longer seen merely as a health risk to the consumer but as a moral offense to be kept ‘out of sight, out of mind.’”
The report follows an uptick in smoking and vaping bans across England, Wales and Scotland. Freedom of Information requests were made to 340 authorities in England and Wales and 32 authorities in Scotland; 283 provided responses.
More than 100 councils banned smoking outside council buildings and on council grounds, and 68 percent of councils had a policy restricting smoking and vaping for employees during working hours. There were 49 councils that banned smoking and vaping breaks completely, even if workers were clocked out, and the bans also included walking between work appointments.
Many councils, says the report, are introducing outdoor smoking bans by stealth. “This isn’t about the risk of passive smoking, it’s a moral crusade,” said Josie Appleton, author of the report. “Smoking is being treated as a shameful activity that should never be seen in public spaces or near official buildings.”
Absurdly, according to Forest, some councils are stopping their workers from vaping too, which makes it harder for smokers to give up. “It would be better if councils focused on providing public services rather than interfering in the lifestyle choices of their employees and residents,” Forest wrote in its report.
The smoker advocacy group Forest has condemned a plan to ban outdoor smoking at U.K. pubs and cafes amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
A group of lawmakers wants the government to require smoking to be banned if the businesses want licenses to serve pavement drinks.
“This is gross opportunism by a small group of anti-smoking peers who have spotted a chance to advance their extreme anti-smoking agenda,” said Simon Clark, director of Forest.
“There is no evidence that smoking in the open air is a threat to public health, so this is a matter for individual businesses not government or local authorities. In the wake of lockdown, pubs, restaurants and cafes already face huge challenges. This is the worst possible time to add to their burden by imposing further regulations that could discourage a lot of smokers from returning.”
Forest is urging the hospitality industry to fight the ban.
“The smoking ban had a huge impact on the pub sector and was a significant factor in thousands of pubs closing after it was introduced in 2007,” Clark said.
The EU ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes will needlessly restrict adult smokers’ choices while doing little to prevent underage smoking, according to smokers’ rights group Forest.
Responding to claims by the anti-smoking group Action on Smoking and Health that the ban on “child-friendly” menthol cigarettes is long overdue, Forest said there is no evidence that banning menthol cigarettes will stop children smoking.
“The ban on menthol cigarettes is a gross restriction on consumer choice that will do nothing to stop children smoking, said Simon Clark, director of Forest.
“Evidence from Canada, where menthol cigarettes were first banned in 2015, suggests that the ban had no overall impact on youth smoking rates because younger smokers simply switched to non-menthol cigarettes,” said Clark.
“Many adults have smoked menthol-flavored cigarettes for decades,” he added. “This week that small pleasure will be taken away from them and the only people who will benefit are the criminals who supply the black market with illegal and counterfeit goods.”
Menthol cigarettes will be banned in the European Union starting tomorrow.
The ban will also outlaw flavored cigarettes, skinny cigarettes and flavored rolling tobacco. The measure is part of the EU Tobacco Products Directive and aims to stop younger people from smoking as well as curb smoking rates among current smokers.
Simon Clark, speaking at the 2019 TABEXPO conference in Amsterdam Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest, says the upcoming ban on menthol cigarettes in the EU and the U.K. will hit consumers at the worst possible time.
“The Covid-19 pandemic is having a huge impact on people’s daily lives,” he said. “This is not the moment to prohibit a product many smokers enjoy and take comfort from. Given the current crisis, and the disruption and anxiety it is causing, the ban is going to hit consumers at the worst possible time.”
From May 20, 2020, it will be an offense for manufacturers to produce menthol cigarettes and for retailers to sell menthol cigarettes in the U.K. and throughout the European Union.
The ban also applies to hand-rolling tobacco with mentholated filters or papers if they are supplied together in the same product.
Clark worries that the menthol ban will catch many smokers unprepared. “We believe that a significant number of smokers are unaware of the forthcoming ban,” he said. “They will be shocked when they find that their favorite brands are no longer available via legitimate retailers. The government is understandably preoccupied with more serious issues, but imposing prohibition on so many consumers without a proper awareness campaign is inexcusable.”
The results of a survey of more than 600 smokers published yesterday by the Centre for Substance Use Research in Glasgow indicate that 95 percent gave pleasure as their primary reason for smoking, with 35 percent suggesting that smoking was part of their identity.
The Pleasure of Smoking: The Views of Confirmed Smokers was funded by the UK smokers’ group, Forest. Smokers participating in the study, who were said to include many subscribers to Forest’s e-newsletter, were aged between 18 and 88 years of age.
Sixty-two percent of participants liked the physical effect of nicotine, 55 percent liked the way smoking provided “time for oneself”, 52 percent liked the taste or smell of tobacco, and 49 percent liked the ritual involved in smoking.
Seventy-seven percent expected to smoke for many years with only five percent envisaging a time in the near future when they might have stopped.
Although 56 percent felt that they were addicted to smoking, many described the habit as a personal choice rather than behaviour determined by their dependence on nicotine.
Asked what they liked least about smoking, 73 percent cited the financial cost while 54 percent objected to the stigma that is now directed towards smokers.
Asked what might prompt them to stop smoking in future, the most common reasons were becoming seriously unwell as a result of smoking or exacerbating an illness through smoking. Anti-smoking policies such as smoking bans and plain packaging were not cited by any respondents as reasons to quit smoking.
Ninety-one percent of respondents felt they were treated unfairly by the government. Only four percent felt they were treated fairly.
Fifty-nine percent had used alternative nicotine delivery products such as electronic cigarettes, but few had been persuaded to switch permanently from combustible cigarettes to electronic cigarettes. The most common criticism of vaping was that it was “not the same” as smoking. Respondents commented that they missed the “smoke” and the “aroma” of combusted tobacco when they vaped. Some said they felt vaping was a “colder”, less social and more individualistic activity.
The second most commonly expressed criticism of vaping concerned perceived deficiencies in the technology, chief of which were complaints that the technology was “fiddly” and the batteries were often unreliable or required attention to ensure they were charged sufficiently.
The most positive aspect of vaping cited by respondents was the fact that electronic cigarettes could be used in places where smoking was prohibited.
“This research has provided considerable detailed information on the way in which smoking is viewed by a group of confirmed smokers, a body whose opinions are rarely articulated or taken into account by government or tobacco control groups,” said Dr. Neil McKeganey, director of the Centre for Substance Use Research. “The implications of these findings from a smoking cessation perspective are significant because there is a clear gulf between the way smoking is typically viewed as a negative, somewhat reprehensible, behaviour and how the smokers themselves saw smoking as a source of pleasure, a choice rather than an addiction. “It suggests that the success of initiatives to encourage confirmed smokers to move away entirely from combustible tobacco products will depend to a large extent on the degree to which the alternative harm reduction products approximate the smoking experience in terms of enjoyment.”
Simon Clark (pictured), the director of Forest said the health risks of smoking were well known yet many people chose to smoke because they enjoyed it, not because they were addicted. “Government must respect that choice and stop bullying smokers to quit,” he said. “What this research tells us is that confirmed smokers are unlikely to stop until there are alternative products that offer the same level of enjoyment as traditional cigarettes. That’s what politicians should focus on and support. Instead governments are introducing plain packaging and other measures that wilfully ignore the reasons many people smoke.”
