1. National government policy statements (England)
1.1. Pro-harm-reduction national policy statements…
Note: October 2022. A new government tobacco policy is still expected in 2022 to set out measures to meet the smoke-free goal to reduce smoking prevalence to less than 5% by 2030. The Khan review (see ‘Independent advice’ below) was supposed to feed in to this.
Prevention Green Paper (consultative):Advancing our health: prevention in the 2020s. July 2019. Consults on Smoke-free England 2030 goal and mentions an “ultimatum for industry to make smoked tobacco obsolete by 2030, with smokers quitting or moving to reduced-risk products like e-cigarettes”.
“Our new review reinforces the finding that vaping is a fraction of the risk of smoking, at least 95% less harmful, and of negligible risk to bystanders. Yet over half of smokers either falsely believe that vaping is as harmful as smoking or just don’t know”
“Although it is not possible to precisely quantify the long-term health risks associated with e-cigarettes, the available data suggest that they are unlikely to exceed 5% of those associated with smoked tobacco products, and may well be substantially lower than this figure“. (Section 5.5 page 87)
Dr. Sharon Cox. University College London. Are we ready to achieve a smoke free future? BMJ 2021. Also see her talk on The Truth About Vaping, and the English approach below (2020).
Dr. Lynne Dawkins, South Bank University – E-cigarettes: an evidence update – all on a guest blog. Myth busting lecture on the science of vaping (slides). November 2018.
UK Centre for Alcohol and Tobacco Studies: Commentary on WHO report on ENDS, October 2016. A blistering critique of WHO’s vaping science.
The national healthcare provider, the National Health Service endorses the use of e-cigarettes to stop smoking. Annual stop-smoking campaigns encourage users to quit or switch.
PHE public information video (below) with basics on why vaping is so much safer than smoking – and related BBC coverage. With Lion Shahab and Rosemary Leonard.
These reflect the view that vaping policy should be a matter for the owner or manager of the premises, not subject to a blanket legal ban.
These very sensible industry codes govern the advertising that is not banned by the wholly disproportionate EU Tobacco Products DirectiveArticle 20(5) as it applies in the UK.
2016 statement by Public Health England, Action on Smoking and Health, Association of Directors of Public Health, British Lung Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Faculty of Public Health, Fresh North East, Healthier Futures, Public Health Action (PHA), Royal College of Physicians, Royal Society for Public Health, UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, UK Health Forum
UK experts talking sense about vaping and harm reduction – on video (Ann McNeill, John Britton, Robert West, Deborah Arnott, Ian Gray) and see many of the same experts on The Switch (2017) below:
Professor Linda Bauld of Cancer Research UK and Dr Richard Roope of Royal College of General Practitioners and CRUK Cancer Clinical Champion, addressing key concerns that GPs have voiced about e-cigarettes.
4.4 UK Parliamentary inquiry – December 2017 – December 2018
The House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology inquiry into e-cigarettes took evidence in December 2017. See:
ASH / YouGov surveys (current menu) annual surveys – includes Use of e-cigarettes among young people in Great Britain; Use of e-cigarettes among adults in Great Britain)
I have nothing to add except to say that a society that encourages reduced harm in such an honest and transparent way will surely benefit. And this atmosphere will surely deal best with any unforseen problems in the future.
Brilliantly done overview as expected from you Clive. Highly useful for so many (even us foreigners) and not just as a reference. many thanks.
You Brits have been the leading force on our globe on harm-reduction and alternative choices for people to quit smoking. As such you are influencing people in many countries in a positive way, especially wth your landmark reports from PHE & RCP.
As often said without the leadership and guidance from you guys in UK we would sit up (or lie down) with defective and misinformed policies from powerhouses like WHO and the US Health (CDC & FDA). That would really be a shitty situation for us all.
As I thank you Brits, as have often done before, for your fantastic contribution then at the same time would like to see more global perspective from UK. Know of course PHE, RCP, UKCTAS etc are British and never will be otherwise. But what affects UK will/does will in many similar ways also affect us all, and I think you are very well aware of that fact already.
The globe is in great need for a broader perspective or a global one, which relates to everyone on this planet not just UK or the old commonwealth nations or just the English speaking ones. We really need an alternative instead of WHO as it acts now, though with high and beautyful ideals as the health leader, it’s policies (FCTC) today do not fullfill it’s promise.
An up-to-date encyclopaedia of the immense contribution from many sectors of the UK to the knowledge of tobacco harm reduction that the world can benefit from. Thank you Clive, for putting it all together
I have nothing to add except to say that a society that encourages reduced harm in such an honest and transparent way will surely benefit. And this atmosphere will surely deal best with any unforseen problems in the future.
Wow, I bet there was a lot of work in putting all this together, I hope a lot of people get to read and use it.
Brilliantly done overview as expected from you Clive. Highly useful for so many (even us foreigners) and not just as a reference. many thanks.
You Brits have been the leading force on our globe on harm-reduction and alternative choices for people to quit smoking. As such you are influencing people in many countries in a positive way, especially wth your landmark reports from PHE & RCP.
As often said without the leadership and guidance from you guys in UK we would sit up (or lie down) with defective and misinformed policies from powerhouses like WHO and the US Health (CDC & FDA). That would really be a shitty situation for us all.
As I thank you Brits, as have often done before, for your fantastic contribution then at the same time would like to see more global perspective from UK. Know of course PHE, RCP, UKCTAS etc are British and never will be otherwise. But what affects UK will/does will in many similar ways also affect us all, and I think you are very well aware of that fact already.
The globe is in great need for a broader perspective or a global one, which relates to everyone on this planet not just UK or the old commonwealth nations or just the English speaking ones. We really need an alternative instead of WHO as it acts now, though with high and beautyful ideals as the health leader, it’s policies (FCTC) today do not fullfill it’s promise.
ITC England cohort survey (2016-2020) of current and recent former smokers and current vapers plus ITC adolescent surveys 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
An up-to-date encyclopaedia of the immense contribution from many sectors of the UK to the knowledge of tobacco harm reduction that the world can benefit from. Thank you Clive, for putting it all together
You are proving very good and relevant information….