Tag: United Kingdom

U.K. Smoking Decline Stalled Since Pandemic

Photo: Lucas
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, a decades-long decline in smoking prevalence in England has stalled, according to a new study from University College London (UCL) researchers.
The study was funded by Cancer Research U.K. and published in BMC Medicine.
From June 2017 to February 2020, smoking prevalence fell by 5.2 percent annually. From April 2020 to August 2022 (during the pandemic), the rate of decline slowed to 0.3 percent. The stall in decline was more pronounced in advantaged social groups.
“Smoking prevalence has been falling among adults in England at a steady rate for more than 20 years,” said Sarah Jackson, lead author from the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, in a statement. “Our data show that this decline has stalled, with an increase in quitting potentially having been offset by a rise in people taking up smoking or an increase in late relapse.
“These findings make bold policy action more urgent. The government was already not on track to meet its target for England to be smoke-free by 2030. This study shows we are even further off track than we thought.”
The researchers estimated that smokers in England accounted for 16.2 percent in June 2017, and in August 2022, this number was 15 percent.
The researchers used data from the Smoking Toolkit Study, aiming to see if the pandemic had resulted in sustained changes in smoking patterns. They found that there was a 40 percent increase in quit attempts during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic, and there was a sustained 120 percent increase in the proportion of people stopping smoking, but this was offset by an increase in the number of people taking up smoking during the same period.
Smoking prevalence increased among 18-year-olds to 24-year-olds at the start of the pandemic while it decreased among 45-year-olds to 65-year-olds. Both age groups saw the immediate changes followed by pre-pandemic declines stopping and prevalence remaining flat.
“In working toward the smoke-free 2030 target,” the researchers wrote, “there is a need for action to reignite progress in reducing smoking among the more advantaged social grades and identify ways to accelerate the decline among less advantaged groups.”
“The government’s proposal to make it an offense to sell tobacco products to anyone born after 2008 could get us much closer to a smoke-free 2030,” said Jamie Brown, senior author and professor at the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care. “Other bold actions that have been proposed, such as increasing investment in mass media campaigns and distributing a million e-cigarettes to smokers, could also make a significant difference.”
“These findings demonstrate why we can’t be complacent when it comes to tobacco,” said Ian Walker, Cancer Research U.K.’s executive director of policy. “It can be easy to start smoking but notoriously hard to quit.
“World-leading measures, such as changing the age of sale of tobacco, alongside critical funding to boost smoking cessation services, are essential to help us achieve a smoke-free U.K. We call on MPs from all parties to support the age of sale legislation at the free vote.”
December 15, 2023
Imperial Calls for Better Targeted Regulation

Photo: Casimirokt | Dreamstime.com
Imperial Brands has called for a ban on vapes that are deliberately marketed to young people. In its response to the U.K. government’s consultation on “creating a smoke-free generation and tackling youth vaping,” the company argued for stronger enforcement of existing regulation.
Among other provisions, the government’s plan includes a provision that would make it illegal for anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, to ever legally buy cigarettes, and a ban on disposable vapes.
“As the owner of the blu vape brand, we share the government’s concerns about the rise in youth vaping and call for a reform of vape flavor names and a ban on packaging that deliberately appeals to under-18s,” Imperial Brands wrote on its website.
However, Imperial also noted that vaping has played a key role in reducing U.K. smoking levels to the lowest on record, referring to Public Health England’s finding that e-cigarettes are around 95 percent less harmful than normal cigarettes.
“If a ban on disposable vapes is introduced—which more than half of adult vapers use—it could easily drive some nicotine users to return to cigarette smoking and reverse the positive downward trend,” Imperial wrote.
The proposed generational tobacco ban, meanwhile, would be unworkable and unenforceable, according to the company. “The prohibition of tobacco products won’t deter tobacco users from smoking; rather, it will increase the already flourishing illicit trade—as was the case in South Africa when the government outlawed the sale of tobacco products during Covid—and lead to a decline in government revenues. Last year, receipts from tobacco duty contributed £10 billion [$12.52 billion] to the public purse,” Imperial wrote.
“The government’s intention to put the U.K. on a path to a smoke-free future is one we all share; however, a generational smoking ban, coupled with a ban on disposable vapes, risks undermining the country’s progress,” said Oliver Kutz, general manager U.K. and Ireland at Imperial Brands.
“It is clear that prohibition does not reduce tobacco consumption; rather, it creates an illicit market, fuels organized crime and presents a real danger to retailers. Removing disposable vapes, the most widely used harm reduction alternative in the U.K., at the same time as prohibiting legitimate tobacco sales is illogical and counterproductive.
“If the U.K. wants to continue on its journey to reduce smoking whilst preventing the rise of youth vaping, greater enforcement of the current regulations at the point of sale is imperative. The introduction of a retailer licensing scheme, alongside Fixed Penalty Notices for breaches, would deter retailers from selling to under-18s, ensuring a crackdown on youth vaping that does not risk existing vapers reverting to smoking.”
December 13, 2023
The Risk of an Own Goal

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Making e-cigarettes available only on prescription may be a net negative for public health, writes Neil McKeganey.
By Neil McKeganey
In response to the rising level of vaping there have been discussions in the U.K. and elsewhere about making e-cigarettes available on prescription only. Within the U.K. Wes Streeting, shadow secretary for health and social care, recently announced that an in-coming Labour government would consider such a restriction as a way of reducing youth vaping.
There is now clear evidence that e-cigarettes are both popular among smokers and that they can help smokers to quit. Alongside such positive evidence there is also the downside of rising numbers of young people using these devices irrespective of whether they are smoking.
Whilst making e-cigarettes available on prescription may seem like an effective way of reducing youth use of these devices, the reality could prove very different. The fact that young people—including some below the legal age of purchase—are vaping underlines the reality that there are more routes to obtaining these devices than legal sale.
It is entirely possible that even in a situation where e-cigarettes were available on prescription only that some young people would still source these devices through illicit routes. Whatever the impact on youth vaping, making e-cigarettes available only through prescription would reduce adult smokers access to these devices. In the event that such a policy were implemented, some adults would certainly go to their doctor seeking a prescription for these devices. Others, however, would be less inclined to go to their doctor. Some of those might source their e-cigarettes through illicit supply whilst others would simply continue to smoke.
There is a further reason why making e-cigarettes available on prescription only may have a downside. Research has shown that using e-cigarettes can increase the likelihood of smoking cessation even when the individual had no prior intention of quitting. Analyzing data from the widely respected Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health study in the United States, Professor Karin Kasza and colleagues from the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center found that adult smokers who had no prior interest in quitting smoking still stopped smoking in impressive numbers following their use of an e-cigarette. Such “accidental quitting” has been found in other studies, with Professor Riccardo Polosa and colleagues in Catania, amongst others, showing that simply providing smokers with access to e-cigarettes helps many to quit even where they have expressed no prior interest in quitting.
As is so often the case when it comes to regulating e-cigarettes, the question is one of how to balance the needs of young people, who ought not to be using these devices, with the needs of adult smokers who may benefit from their use. Whilst making e-cigarettes available on prescription only may reduce some young peoples’ use of these devices, regrettably it may have the same if not greater effect on adult smokers.
The public health goal of reducing smoking is too important to implement a policy that may be less effective than one might hope in reducing youth vaping whilst actually reducing adult smokers access to these devices. The challenge facing manufacturers, regulators and health educators is one of finding a way to reduce youth access to these devices whilst at the same time ensuring that any adult smoker wishing to use an e-cigarette can do so with the least possible difficulty. Requiring adult smokers to seek an appointment with their doctor before they can legally access an e-cigarette device is to place a huge barrier in the way of wider e-cigarette use by smokers and wider intended and accidental quitting on the part of those adult smokers. This is a restrictive regulation that needs to be given serious consideration before being implemented.
Neil McKeganey is the director of the Center for Substance Use Research in Glasgow, Scotland.

December 12, 2023
U.K. Backtracking on Generational Ban

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The U.K. government may be backtracking on its plans to implement a generational tobacco ban, reports Tobacco Insider. According to the website, Britain may settle instead for raising the legal smoking age from 18 to 21.
Under the proposed legislation, children who turn 14 or younger in 2023 would never be able to legally purchase a cigarette. A public consultation on the plans closed Dec. 6.
Tobacco companies have reportedly been engaging heavily with lawmakers. Earlier this month, Philip Morris International held roundtable events with members of parliament as part of its efforts to ensure that heated-tobacco products are exempt from any future smoking ban.
BAT was reportedly also scheduled to hold a private event on the plans to phase out smoking.
Many libertarian Members of Parliament are said to dislike the idea of government limiting people’s choices.
In November, New Zealand and Malaysia scrapped plans for similar generational tobacco bans.
December 7, 2023
Adult Vapers Rely on Flavors: Research
Photo: Atlas
New industry figures, collected by online vape retailers representing around 43 percent of the U.K. market, have revealed that significant numbers of older adults are users of disposable and flavored vapes, which are the focus of a government consultation to address the issue of youth vaping that will close on Dec. 6.
The industry warns that any moves to ban single use vapes and flavors, which have been key drivers in the decline of smoking to record low levels in the U.K. over the last two years, will have catastrophic consequences for the nation’s public health and will effectively end any chance of creating a smokefree generation in the near future.
The data collected from the last quarter sales by four of the country’s leading online retailers, representing nearly a quarter of the U.K. market, revealed that:
The most popular flavor category amongst middle-aged adults (35-44 and year olds) was “fruit” flavors, followed “treats and desserts”
Highest proportion of tobacco flavor use is in the over-55 age category
Menthol flavors and tobacco flavors are significantly less popular amongst middle-aged adults
The average age of adult disposable users is 39
The latest adult vaping statistics follow a survey conducted by One Poll earlier this year, which revealed that 83 percent of vapers said that flavors helped them quit smoking, with one in three saying that a ban on them would lead them back to conventional cigarettes, which would represent around 1.5 million former smokers.
Why should 4.5 million adults who have spent years trying to kick a habit that kills some 250 people a day, and have managed to do so through vaping, be at risk of having their lifeline taken away?”
John Dunne, director, UKVIA
“These statistics show what we in the industry already know—that the very flavors and single use vapes that are now under scrutiny by the government as it looks to tackle youth vaping are a lifeline for former adult smokers,” said Dan Marchant, co-owner of online retailer Vape Club, which contributed to the demographic sales data.
“The legitimate vaping industry completely recognizes the need to deal with youth vaping but it shouldn’t involve any wholesale bans, as this will affect the adults who depend on them. There is already a ban on vapes for under 18 year olds as it is illegal for retailers to sell devices to minors. That’s why the industry is calling for greater enforcement of the existing law, on-the-spot fines of up to £10,000 ($12,631) per offence and the introduction of a retail licensing scheme to weed out the rogue traders.”
“Why should 4.5 million adults who have spent years trying to kick a habit that kills some 250 people a day, and have managed to do so through vaping, be at risk of having their lifeline taken away?” asked UKVIA’s Director General John Dunne.
“If the government goes down the path of banning single use vapes and/or flavors a return to smoking amongst current vapers will be very much on the cards, bringing with it catastrophic consequences for the public health of the nation and wrecking any chances of the government’s smoke free ambition. The only winners from any potential bans on the vaping industry are the tobacco industry and illicit markets, something that no one in their right mind wants to see.”
December 5, 2023
Poll: Adults Should be Allowed to Buy Tobacco

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Almost three-fifths of people in Britain say that when people are 18 and legally an adult, they should be allowed to purchase cigarettes and other tobacco products, a new poll conducted on behalf of the smokers’ lobby group Forest has found.
Conducted by Yonder Consulting, the survey found that 58 percent of respondents think that if a person can vote, drive a car, buy alcohol or possess a credit card at 18, they should also be allowed to purchase tobacco.
Fewer than a third (32 percent) said they should not be allowed to purchase tobacco products when they are legally an adult at 18, while 10 percent said, “don’t know.”
Excluding “don’t knows,” almost two-thirds (65 percent) think that when people are 18 and legally an adult they should be allowed to purchase cigarettes and other tobacco products.
The poll comes on the final day for submissions to the government consultation on banning the sale of tobacco to future generations of adults born after 2008.
The consultation ends Dec. 6 and Forest is urging the government not to introduce a generational ban on the sale of tobacco but to follow the example of the new center-right government in New Zealand which has announced that it will repeal a similar generational sales ban introduced by that country’s previous Labour government.

Banning the sale of tobacco to future generations of adults is gesture politics by a prime minister who has run out of ideas and is desperate to leave a legacy.
Simon Clark, director, Forest
“As soon as you are legally an adult you should be treated like one and allowed to buy tobacco, if that’s your choice,” said Simon Clark, director of Forest.
“We can’t have a two-tier society in which some adults are permitted to buy cigarettes, and others are denied the same opportunity.
“Banning the sale of tobacco to future generations of adults is gesture politics by a prime minister who has run out of ideas and is desperate to leave a legacy.
“It ignores the consequences for law-abiding retailers, who will have to enforce this absurd policy, and drives a stake into the heart of traditional Conservative values such as freedom of choice and personal responsibility.”
The government consultation has also invited responses to proposals for further regulations on vaping products. Forest is urging the government to not ban disposable vapes, make vapes subject to excise duty, or restrict the promotion and display of vapes in shops.
According to Clark, vaping has been a free-market success story. “Millions of smokers who want to quit have done so by switching voluntarily to e-cigarettes and other reduced risk products, including heated tobacco and nicotine pouches,” he said.
“The issue of children vaping should be addressed not by imposing further restrictions on vapes but by enforcing existing age restrictions and punishing retailers who sell vapes illegally to children.”
December 5, 2023
U.K. Still Committed to Generational Ban

Photo: William Richardson
England remains committed to its generational tobacco ban despite New Zealand decision to ax a similar plan, reports the Central Fife Times.
Britain’s government has proposed legislation that would make it illegal for anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, to ever legally buy cigarettes, effectively raising the legal age of purchase by one year, every year.
The legislation was inspired by a generational tobacco ban passed by New Zealand’s former government.
Following New Zealand’s recent general elections, however, the new coalition announced it would repeal the legislation, arguing that there are better ways to improve public health.
Smokers’ rights activists urged England to follow suit by ditching its version of the generational tobacco ban.
“Having stolen the idea from the previous New Zealand government, the prime minister should follow the example of the next New Zealand government and scrap this crazy plan,” said Forest director Simon Clark.
Asked whether Rishi Sunak would consider following Wellington’s lead, a spokeswoman for the British prime minister said: “No, our position remains unchanged. This is an important long-term decision and step to deliver a smoke-free generation which remains critically important.”
A government-commissioned report published in June 2022 put the annual cost to society of smoking at about £17 billion ($21.51 billion).
November 28, 2023
BAT Urges Stricter Vape Rules

Photo: BAT
BAT is urging the U.K. to introduce new regulations that the company believes will help the country achieve its “smoke-free” ambitions.
England wants to reduce smoking prevalence to 5 percent of less by 2030, with Wales targeting a similar timeline and Scotland four years later.
Ahead of the consultation on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill that ends Dec. 6, BAT is now publishing proposals that seek to minimize the underage appeal of, and access to, vapor products, along with the environmental impact of single-use e-cigarettes.
In addition to a ban on dessert and soft drink flavors for vapes, the company is calling for an end to marketing slogans and imagery involving toys, cartoons and sweets.
“Vaping is the key to unlocking the U.K.’s smokefree target,” said Asli Ertonguc, BAT lead for the U.K., in a statement. “As the largest manufacturer of vaping products in the U.K., we are clear on our responsibilities and are urging the government to introduce more stringent vaping regulations. We believe that underage users should never vape, so we want confectionery, dessert and soft drink flavors to be banned and the introduction of a new regime for how and where vapes are sold.”
In practice, this would mean requiring vape sellers to have a retail license, similar to that in place with alcohol and cigarettes, and which would be revoked if they were found to be selling to anyone underage, according to BAT. Retailers would also have to demonstrate to Trading Standards that they observe either Challenge 25 protocols or new technologies at point-of-sale locations which verify age, such as facial recognition cameras.
In addition to tackling underage vaping, BAT also wants vapes to be made more environmentally responsible. BAT wants it to be mandatory for single use vapes to have removable batteries, to make recycling more straightforward.
Five million single use vapes are thrown away each week in the U.K. according to 2023 research from recycling campaign group Material Focus—a fourfold increase since 2022. But only 17 percent of vapers recycle in the correct recycling bins, according to the same data.
Finally, according to BAT, products shipped to the U.K. should be subject to a mandatory testing program to ensure products are compliant with U.K. regulations before they can be sold.
“We recognize that some want single use vapes banned altogether, but we are concerned such a move would lead to unregulated sales, and less options for adult smokers looking to switch,” said Ertonguc. “Governments should wield their enforcement powers to help re-build confidence in vaping by ensuring adult consumers can buy legitimate products, and suitably penalizing those who fail to comply.”
November 27, 2023
Campaigners Slam RYO Tax Hike

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
Campaigners have slammed U.K. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt after he announced that duty on hand-rolling tobacco would be increased by 10 percent above the “tobacco duty escalator” (inflation plus 2 percent).
“The chancellor has just raised two fingers to working class people across the country,” said Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest.
“Raising duty on hand-rolled tobacco by such a punitive amount is going to push more smokers further into poverty or into the hands of illegal traders including criminal gangs.”
Hunt made his comments during his Autumn Statement on Nov. 22, when the chancellor announced his latest financial package to the House of Commons
According to Treasury figures, smokers will be paying an extra £2.21 ($2.77) for a 30-gram packet of hand rolling tobacco.
Smokers will be paying an additional £0.66 per pack of 20 manufactured cigarettes and an extra £0.33 per 10 gram of cigars.
The Treasury expects to rake in an extra £40 million from the measure next year.

This is a clear attack on smokers from poorer backgrounds, many of whom use hand-rolled tobacco because until now it’s been cheaper than buying manufactured cigarettes.
Simon Clark, director, Forest
“This is a clear attack on smokers from poorer backgrounds, many of whom use hand-rolled tobacco because until now it’s been cheaper than buying manufactured cigarettes,” said Clark.
“Instead of punishing adults who smoke with punitive taxation designed to force them to quit, the government should focus on the underlying reasons why a greater proportion of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are smokers.
“Often it’s because of their environment but, instead of improving the conditions in which many people live, this Tory government is determined to force smokers to give up a habit that may relieve some of the stress caused by their environment.”
November 23, 2023
U.K. Urged to Track Tobacco Lobbying
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The United Kingdom should introduce a legally binding and publicly accessible register that covers all lobbying and policy influence activity to reduce the tobacco industry’s influence on policymaking, according to the Tobacco Control Research Group (TCRG) at the University of Bath.
The call comes after the group’s most recent Tobacco Industry Interference Index (UKTI) revealed that the U.K has become more susceptible to industry influence.
TCRG researchers measured the intensity, frequency, and severity of incidents of tobacco industry interference against 20 indicators between April 2021 and March 2023. In the most recent survey, which covered the period, the U.K. scored 48 out of a possible 100 in the 2023 ranking, compared to a score of 32 in 2021, where a higher score means greater tobacco industry interference.
According to the authors, this year’s index highlights several areas of concern:
A lack of transparency across government about its interactions with the tobacco industry and no requirement for the tobacco industry and its associates to register with the government.
A wide range of “unnecessary” interactions between government officials, including senior ministers, and tobacco companies.
No government ban on tobacco industry activities described as “socially responsible”
Tobacco companies attempt to influence policy by submitting responses to public consultations and officially commissioned policy reviews, including on issues of tobacco control.
“Our two-year research highlights a sharp increase in activity by tobacco companies to interfere with health policymaking,” said Raouf Alebshehy, lead author of the UKTI report, in a statement.
“Unfortunately, this has been coupled with a lack of awareness and absence of implementation of measures protecting public health from the industry interference. Except for the U.K.’s health agencies and departments, we have evidence of incidents of tobacco industry interference at the most senior political levels.”
“The Tobacco Interference Index rightly highlights that the U.K. needs to improve cross government understanding about the processes which must be used to protect public policy from tobacco industry interference,” said Deborah Arnott, CEO of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) UK.
“Our ministry of health, which is the custodian for the U.K. of the WHO Convention on Tobacco Control, has already moved to address this through publication in June of guidance to all U.K. government officials on just this issue. We feel confident that the next U.K. Tobacco Industry Interference Index will show the U.K. moving back up the rankings.”
November 15, 2023