May 7th, 2014
For Labour, shadow public health minister Luciana Berger demanded to know why the government was delaying the introduction of plain packaging “still further” having already held a consultation on the issue in 2012.
Opposition leader Ed Miliband added “The government should have introduced plain packaging earlier this year we want them to act swiftly, we want them to act now. We don’t need another review.
“Every major public health expert agrees this would help the battle against cancer, against young people taking up smoking.”
The government has never officially ruled out changes to cigarette packaging laws, but BBC political editor Nick Robinson said that private briefings from Downing Street had previously suggested the idea was “dead”.
He said ministers were likely to have been defeated on Lords amendments to the Children and Families Bill, which enjoyed cross party support, and would have given the government the power to regulate cigarette packaging.
Ms Ellison confirmed that the government would table its own amendment to the legislation, giving ministers the power to introduce regulations “quickly” when Sir Cyril’s review is complete in March 2014 if they decide to proceed with the policy.
‘Rise in counterfeiting’
She rejected suggestions the rethink had been prompted by fears of defeat in the Lords, saying “It’s a year this weekend since the legislation was introduced in Australia. It’s the right time to ask people to look at this.
“This is fundamentally about children’s health. Two thirds of people start smoking when they’re children and it’s one of the most important public health issues we face in this country.”
Bbc news – e-cigarettes to be stubbed out for under-18s
“We do not yet know the harm that e cigarettes can cause to adults, let alone to children, but we do know they are not risk free,” Prof Dame Sally Davies, England’s chief medical officer, said.
“E cigarettes can produce toxic chemicals and the amount of nicotine and other chemical constituents and contaminants, including vaporised flavourings, varies between products meaning they could be extremely damaging to young people’s health.”
Katherine Devlin, president of the Electronic Cigarette Industry Trade Association, welcomed the changes in the law, saying they had been asking for it “for years”.
“It’s high time that it was mandated in law so that it can be robustly enforced,” she added, pointing out that product labelling made it clear e cigarettes were not for under 18s.
Anti smoking charity Ash also welcomed the changes, but chief executive Deborah Arnott called for a retail licensing system that would mean cigarettes could be legally sold only in shops, not in car boot sales or markets.
No EU ban
The UK currently has few restrictions on the use of e cigarettes, despite moves in some countries to ban them.
Restrictions have recently been mooted in Scotland and Wales, where health policy is a devolved issue.
A Welsh government spokesman said on Sunday it “fully” supported a ban on e cigarettes for under 18s and was considering how such legislation could be introduced in Wales.
In Northern Ireland, the NI Chest Heart and Stroke charity is pressing the health minister to introduce a similar ban.
The law change for England will be introduced in Parliament this week as an amendment to the Children and Families Bill.
Labour said the policy on banning cigarettes for children was a “watered down version of a policy that Labour called for last year” and that buying cigarettes for children should carry the same penalty as buying alcohol for underage drinkers.
But it said restricting the sale of e cigarettes to under 18s was a “sensible step”.
From 2016, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency is expected to license e cigarettes as a medicine in the UK.
This will bring them in line with nicotine patches and gum, and allow the agency to apply rules around, for example, the purity of the nicotine in e cigarettes.
MEPs have rejected calls for a blanket ban on the sale of e cigarettes across the EU.
However, under a compromise deal, strict limits will be placed on the amount of nicotine they contain, and individual EU member states will be able to introduce a national ban if they see fit.
If three or more member states chose that path, it could trigger an EU wide ban.
‘Irresponsible adults’
Smoking remains one of the biggest causes of death and illness in the UK, with around 100,000 people dying each year from illnesses linked to the habit.
Experts want to crack down on the number of young people smoking by bringing the law in line with restrictions on the sale of alcohol.
The new rules on adults buying cigarettes for under 18s could be in force by the autumn and may mean anyone caught buying cigarettes for a child could be given a 50 fixed penalty notice or a fine of up to 2,500.
“We must do all we can to help children lead a healthy life,” public health minister Jane Ellison said.
Some 41% of 15 year olds who smoke say they usually buy their cigarettes from someone else, rather than from a shop, according to Department of Health figures.
