Qualified support

The smokers’ group Forest has issued a qualified welcome to a report by the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee on electronic cigarettes.

Forest welcomed a call by MPs on the Committee to relax e-cigarette advertising regulations and to review the current limit on the strength of refills and the restriction on the size of tanks.

But it warned against medical licensing of e-cigarettes.

“We welcome the Committee’s open-minded approach to e-cigarettes,” said the director of Forest, Simon Clark.

“We agree that, post-Brexit, manufacturers should be allowed to inform smokers of the potential health benefits of switching to e-cigarettes.

“We agree too that the limit on the strength of refills and the restriction on tank size should be reviewed.”

But on the subject of medicinal licensing, Clark warned that such a move could damage the appeal of vaping for millions of smokers.

“The success of e-cigarettes to date has been based on the fact that they allow smokers who want to quit to switch to a product that, for many people, is as pleasurable as the cigarettes they are giving up,” he said.

“Aligning e-cigarettes with products such as nicotine patches and gum could be counter-productive.”