Former official urges using Brexit freedom to promote vaping at WHO meeting
According to the Express, former Welsh Secretary and Brexit minister David Jones urged the UK to use its post-Brexit freedom to promote the health benefits of vaping during the next tobacco summit organized by the World Health Organization. Parties to the
According to the Express, former Welsh Secretary and Brexit minister David Jones has urged the UK to use its post-Brexit freedom at the next World Health Organization tobacco summit to promote the health benefits of vaping.
Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control are scheduled to hold a virtual meeting in November to discuss tobacco control policy.
Delegates will debate the successes and failures of recent and ongoing tobacco control initiatives. They will discuss how best to persuade the world to move away from traditional cigarettes, and they will also address issues such as law enforcement involvement in the illicit tobacco trade.
Both the WHO and the EU have taken an anti-vaping stance, pushing for tighter restrictions. On its website, the WHO claims that a growing body of evidence points to the risks of vaping products.
The UK has taken a pragmatic approach to the category, allowing vaping products to remain on the market under a relatively flexible regulatory framework.
“Unlike previous Conferences of the Parties, the UK does not have to align itself with the EU position,” Jones said. “We are not bound by Brussels, and we can independently and freely support the science, support Public Health England, and support our own health experts rather than the WHO.
“We must not fall into the bad habit of simply joining the EU position because it is the easy thing to do. Brexit means controlling our own policy. This is our opportunity to show voters what that means in practice. We must use our freedom to save lives.”
However, there are concerns that the WHO may not recognize the UK as an independent voice at its summit. Instead, it may defer to the EU as the voice of the European region.
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