Rosie Cooper showed concerns about the processes being actively taken to bring to a stop, smoking in pregnant women. In the house of Lords, Lord Rennard asked what the government is doing to quicken and standardize the licensing procedure for electric cigarettes. Robert Blackman put forth a bill to compel tobacco manufacturers and retailers to periodically publish their sales data and advertisement data.
In parliament, Rosie Elizabeth Cooper asked to know the steps the UK Government is currently taking to ensure spread of awareness and the understanding of the healthy behaviours such as decreasing the use of cigarettes during their pregnancy and campaigning for an increase in breastfeeding past the first post-natal week which is necessary for improving children’s health during their early years
An MP, Doyle-Price then replied saying; the NCSCT and Public Health England put forth a wide range of resources online to support anti-natal nurses to have deep and meaningful conversations with expectant mothers about quitting the use of cigarettes especially during their pregnancy.
Currently, the amount of smoking pregnant women in the UK has been on the rise and tests are being performed to determine if the use of e-cigarettes works as an effective and less harmful switch tool.
Lord Rennard, how far in terms of advancement the MHRA has gone in establishing an expert working group to bring forth advice on quickening and standardizing the licensing procedure for electronic cigarettes, if the said expert working group has met yet, what steps they will be taken to speed up the procedure if they hadn’t met yet?
Nicola Blackwood, Baroness of Oxford then replied stating that a couple of experts had already agreed upon the scope and limitations of this area of knowledge in the previous month, those that should serve in the group as members and installed a chairperson. The maiden meeting of this group is scheduled to hold later in the month.
Robert Blackman put forth a proposition to compel tobacco manufacturers and retailers to become open and honest, coercing them to periodically publish their sales data and advertisement data in tandem with suggestions made in a recent report by the APPG.
Blackman pointed out that smoking still counts as the cause of around Seventy-nine thousand deaths per year in just England, and has, therefore, become a priority for the UK’s public health policies. Smoking is the head cause of avoidable underage death and is responsible for 50% of the disparity between the poorest and richest communities in the UK in life expectancy.”
“A WHO framework for conventions on the control of tobacco, which the country is part of, suggests that Governments should implement tighter control over the tobacco manufacturing and retailing companies for the preservation of the health of the general public by a larger extent. This includes continuous monitoring of industry characters, ensuring that industry interest doesn’t tamper with public policy.”
He pointed out that monitoring has been made difficult by a lack of transparency, and the fact that relevant commercial data are mostly available at a very high cost.
Robert Blackman also said that even though the industry maintains it shouldn’t be made to publish such information for reasons bothering on confidentiality, New Zealand and Canada have already put forth laws demanding such transparency.
In an opposing motion, Ian Paisley spoke up supporting vaping saying he was glad to salute the House into the v-April month, a month that celebrates the kind of positive switch smokers can potentially make with vaping. The month-long crusade is supported by businesses, tobacco manufacturers and retailers, independent electric cigarette enterprises, mostly by the consumers. He also stressed that these e-cigarettes are produced in the UK and therefore creates employment for citizens of the UK, and employees pay their taxes to the UK government as well. They, therefore, are very integral.”
He enjoined the honourable gentleman to declare support for this cause and try to spread the word concerning vaping and its potential benefits to health of smokers if he is really determined to stop more people from smoking.