London, UK — Today UK Health Minister Neil O’Brian najavio the United Kingdom will further double down on backing vaping as a smoking cessation tool by encouraging one million smokers to swap cigarettes with free vape starter kits, provide financial incentives to pregnant women to quit smoking, and introduce mandatory information sheet inserts into cigarettes packs.

Svjetski savez vapera, globalna organizacija potrošača vapinga, hvali predanost britanske vlade. Ove će mjere ojačati poziciju Ujedinjenog Kraljevstva kao jednog od svjetskih prvaka u smanjenju štete od duhana, kaže Michael Landl, direktor Svjetskog saveza vapera:

“Ujedinjeno Kraljevstvo je svjetski prvak u prestanku pušenja i predvodnik u smanjenju štete. Stope pušenja pale su za više od 29% u posljednjem desetljeću otkako je vaping postao široko popularan, a vlada mora udvostručiti napore u prihvaćanju vapinga. Široko prihvaćanje vapinga zbog snažne političke potpore i čvrstih medicinskih dokaza razlog je zašto stope pušenja padaju brže nego u drugim zemljama. Daljnja pomoć pušačima da pređu na e-cigarete ubrzat će priču o uspjehu Ujedinjenog Kraljevstva.”

Politico recently prijavljeno that some ministers were considering imposing higher taxes on vaping products, and enforcing new regulations on packaging and flavours in response to the Khan Review published last year. This would endanger the progress achieved by fully embracing vaping for smokers.

“It is great news for public health that Health Minister O’Brian withstands the pressure from anti-vaping groups, who ignore scientific facts and the success of the UK’s approach. Caving-in would be a disaster for smokers and current vapers. Higher taxation of vaping products and equalling vaping with smoking, rather than a risk-based regulation, would push many vapers back to smoking and not help current smokers to switch to a less harmful alternative”, dodao je Landl.

Compared to the EU’s 25% smoking rate, the UK is on the right track and these new policy measures would be a further push in the right direction. Earlier this year, the UK was crowned as one of the tobacco harm reduction champions by the World Vapers’ Alliance in the Uvod u politiku smanjenja štete od duhana.