During this time when US FDA made an announcement of a new blitz which was aimed a targeting the sales of e-cigs to minors, a UK minister has made it known that he would consider using cigarette packets as a new way of advertising e-cigarette.
A Proposal by MP Stephen Metcalfe was tendered at a hearing on e-cigarettes by the House of Common Science and Technology Committeeand it clearly talks about the use of cigarette packs to get e-cigarettes promoted as a smoking cessation tool. Steve Brine, the UK’s Pharmacy minister has chosen to consider the proposal and he told MPs “it’s a valuable point worth considering.” “In a critical time of tight reserve, it’s a very message.”
Pharmacy minister talked about the several advantages of having accessible e-cig data
The joint decision made beforehand by the current regulatory framework to consider any promotional material on cigarette pack illegal was brought to notice by Tim Baxter, the director of healthy behaviors at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), where he stressed that this is something the government should look into.
The speaker also laid some emphasis on the inconsistencies that have been facing smoking cessation services in the length and breadth of the country. Brine made it known that even though the decision of how the £16bn allocated to public health is being spent is grossly up to individual councils, he believed that if more significant research about the several benefits of e-cigarettes were accessible by all, suggesting the devices to be used as smoking cessation tools will become much more the obvious choice
The UK Maintains The Lead
Many countries such as the US and Australia are adamant and still maintain an unreasonable harsh stance towards the propagation of e-cigarettes despite the scientific data available to them. This is a different case with the UK as they prove to be progressive and hence be the leader in the use of e-cigarette for harm reduction and they have got the numbers to show for that.
Duncan Selbie, the CEO OF Public Health England showed he was highly impressed when he made a statement last summer, saying “It’s now seeming unbelievable that back in 1974 a large proportion of adults smoked. But now a change is in view and we are presented with an opportunity to completely stop all the harm, despair and death known to be caused by smoking.” The number of smokers in the UK has now been drastically reduced to over half the number in 2015 which puts the country behind Sweden in all of Europe as the second lowest cigarette smoking country.