Written evidence submitted by Sarah Jakes (MSI0051)

E-cigarettes and the consequences of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations

It is widely accepted in the U.K. that e-cigarettes represent a golden opportunity to reduce the harm caused by smoking tobacco cigarettes, however the EU Tobacco Products Directive brought in a raft of arbitrary restrictions to these devices including concentration limits and advertising bans. It is likely that these restrictions will reduce uptake among this country’s millions of smokers of a product which is estimated to be at least 95% safer than smoking traditional cigarettes.

Brexit offers an opportunity to revisit these regulations but more needs to be understood about which parts of the regulations might be beneficial (if any) and which might be harmful.

January 2017