The UK’s tobacco management panorama is getting into a vital new part. Because the Division of Well being and Social Care (DHSC) launches its name for proof on vaping coverage, the Unbiased British Vape Commerce Affiliation (IBVTA) has welcomed the transfer as a long-overdue return to science-led regulation — and a well timed reminder that public well being progress should not be derailed by politics or populism.
Crucially, this isn’t a public session, however a technical evidence-gathering train — a distinction that issues.
The DHSC name, open till 3 December 2025, invitations submissions on a spread of technical points together with the licensing of vape and tobacco retail, security of vape flavour elements, system performance, and the MHRA’s vape product notification system. This course of precedes the ultimate passage of the Tobacco and Vapes Invoice, anticipated to obtain Royal Assent subsequent yr, and can assist form the detailed secondary laws that follows.
Crucially, this isn’t a public session, however a technical evidence-gathering train — a distinction that issues. Requires proof are designed to attract on specialist experience, quite than basic opinion. Because the IBVTA notes, this ensures that policymaking is grounded in info, not worry.
Past the headlines
The significance of evidence-based considering was highlighted earlier this month, when a examine by College Faculty London and King’s Faculty London made headlines suggesting that plain packaging might make vaping much less interesting to youth.
Whereas the findings have been broadly reported as justification for stricter packaging legal guidelines, the examine’s personal knowledge revealed a extra delicate scenario. Researchers discovered that alongside decreasing youth attraction, standardised packaging and restricted flavour descriptors, additionally led to adults who smoke or vape discovering such merchandise much less interesting — a doubtlessly severe unintended consequence. But, a lot of the media protection ignored this element.
Because the IBVTA famous in its response, “nearly all of people who smoke already incorrectly consider that vaping is as dangerous as smoking.” Additional decreasing product attraction via plain packaging might reinforce misconceptions and discourage switching — exactly the other of what public well being coverage ought to search to attain.
Balancing safety with progress
It’s inside this context that the federal government’s Tobacco and Vapes Invoice takes on even larger significance. Whereas aiming to curb youth entry and enhance regulation, the Invoice additionally proposes a compulsory retail licensing system for tobacco and vape gross sales. Different measures embody stricter penalties for unlawful underage gross sales, limits on promoting, and potential restrictions on product look — insurance policies that should now be rigorously formed to keep away from deepening public misunderstanding or diminishing entry to safer options..
Public well being teams equivalent to Motion on Smoking and Well being (ASH) have known as the invoice “a landmark alternative” to speed up the journey towards a smoke-free era, whereas native authorities represented by the Native Authorities Affiliation (LGA) have backed the thought of licensing as a sensible device for enforcement.
For the hurt discount group, the important thing problem lies in stability — safeguarding younger folks with out undermining grownup entry to regulated, lower-risk merchandise. The IBVTA has persistently advocated for proportionate regulation, together with an industry-wide Code of Conduct launched in 2023 that bans cartoon imagery and emotionally charged flavour names more likely to attraction to kids, whereas permitting adult-friendly descriptions that precisely replicate flavour profiles.
Can science nonetheless cleared the path?
The DHSC’s evidence-gathering course of affords a possibility to recalibrate the UK’s strategy — to base selections on sturdy knowledge quite than political expediency or media soundbites. That is particularly essential given the quickly altering panorama.
The ban on single-use vapes got here into pressure in mid-2025, eradicating merchandise most related to youth use. An excise obligation on vaping merchandise set to take impact in October 2026 will considerably increase costs, and licensing necessities will give enforcement businesses new instruments to sort out rogue merchants.
Taken collectively, these measures already signify probably the most complete overhauls of nicotine product regulation in British historical past. However with out cautious calibration, the danger is obvious: insurance policies meant to guard youth might inadvertently drive grownup people who smoke again to cigarettes, or worse, into the illicit market.
A name for proof, and perspective
The IBVTA’s help for the DHSC initiative displays a broader reality: sound public well being coverage should begin with listening to proof. Vaping has already helped thousands and thousands of adults give up smoking, and based on the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics, the UK now has one of many lowest smoking charges in Europe — progress that should not be reversed by poorly designed regulation.
Because the DHSC gathers proof and Parliament debates the Tobacco and Vapes Invoice, policymakers face a defining alternative: observe the science and strengthen hurt discount, or yield to the noise and danger undoing a decade of lifesaving progress.
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