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Tobacco and Vapes Bill: Clause 13

MPs discussed ‘Displays of products or prices in England’ as part of a debate on amendments to Clause 13 of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill

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The next part of this effective foray into the warped mind of Dr Caroline Johnson, Planet of the Vapes looks at the debate on amendments to Clause 13 of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, where MPs considered ‘Displays of products or prices in England’. The debate took place in a public committee. 

Roger Gale began by reminding ministers that “it is not actually de rigueur to speak in every stand-part debate if you have no desire or need to do so”. A shame then that Dr Caroline Johnson’s first though was to ignore him and dominate another discussion with her collection of ridiculous opinions.

Cutting her off almost immediately, Gale allowed Andrew Gwynne, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care, to begin proceedings.

Evidence shows us that vapes and nicotine products are currently too easily accessible to children within shops. Vapes are sometimes displayed alongside sweets and confectionery in retail environments and often promoted in shop-front windows. These products are too easily seen and too readily available for children. That is unacceptable,” he began.

You may sigh heavily at this point. Once upon a time it was recognised that having vape products out on display next to nicotine gums, sprays and patches encouraged smokers to try switching – those days are long gone. Welcome to the New Dark Ages of prohibition.

Leaping at the first opportunity to get stuck back in, Caroline Johnson piped up again. Remember at this point that Johnson is a qualified doctor with years of expertise and training. Yes, it’s that frightening.

Simply take a drive down a high street in any small town across the country, and one will come across a shop with an entire front window blocked out with pictures of sweets, other confectionery and chocolate, usually an energy drink or two thrown in, and a whole host of brightly-coloured vaping devices,” she prattled.

The clear message is that these are fun and exciting products—not stop-smoking devices, but recreational products—and is clearly designed to entice children into purchasing them.”

She continued by talking about an A1-M25 service station, WH Smith, “the enticement of children”, the evils of advertising, unspecified and unevidenced “potentially harmful” aspects of vaping, attention-grabbing displays, and more nonsense about children.

At the end of the tedious monologue, Conservative Jack Rankin congratulated her for “making an eloquent case that we should not be advertising vapes, or their pricing and products to children”. He did point out that advertising to adults looks different.

And the government’s position?

Andrew Gwynne responded by saying he would not consult with the tobacco industry and the vape industry because the UK is party to the World Health Organisation framework convention on tobacco control. 

He continued by confirming that plain packaging is coming to vape products: “Research on vape packaging has shown that reduced brand imagery can decrease the appeal to young people who have not previously smoked or vaped, without reducing the appeal of vapes to adult smokers.”

He concluded: “I commend the clauses to the Committee.”

You may sigh heavily again.

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Dave Cross avatar

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV
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Dave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.

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