Tobacco firm calls for tougher rules on vapes

3 years ago by Lee Duna to c/world

BAT wants sellers to be licensed, and sweet flavours banned.

Jesus_666 54 points 3 years ago

monkey's paw curls

Okay, nicotine is now a Schedule II drug. You need a prescription to buy anything with nicotine in it.

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CalicoJack 22 points 3 years ago

Australia actually did that a couple years ago, but only for vaping-related nicotine. Cigs were unaffected.

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Risk 37 points 3 years ago

Good to see Australia completed unaffected by the tobacco lobby...

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gladflag 2 points 3 years ago

And unable to deal with an absolutely massive illegal tobacco and vape industry (:

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muntedcrocodile 33 points 3 years ago

Ohh no our preciouse monopoly on addiction is being undercut. Would someone think of the poor tobaco companies struggling to keep the lights on.

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dmention7 -18 points 3 years ago

I mean... yeah, their motivations are obviously not pure, but having vape sellers be licensed similar to cigarette sellers and banning flavors that are marketed to kids both sound pretty reasonable IMO.

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wildginger 13 points 3 years ago

I do hate when they try and flavor things as "middle school grape" and "minors only strawberry"

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dmention7 -12 points 3 years ago

Really...?

I get you're being sarcastic here, but you and I both know that advertising and marketing can be incredibly subtle and insidious. Hell, that exact complaint is half the content posted to Lemmy. Making your product in flavors that appeal primarily to kids is about as blatant as it gets. What makes you think vape manufacturers are so honest?

In case you're being serious, take a stroll down the candy or cereal aisle at your grocery store and see if you can pick out which ones are marketed to kids vs adults just by the flavors.

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wildginger 15 points 3 years ago

Do you think its the flavor that makes those kid cereals? Or do you maybe think its the childish mascots with puzzles and games on the back of the box? Because I sure as shit wouldnt call the 4 fruit flavors of cheerios as "marketed towards children," just as I dont think the existence of fruit is a plot by Big Agriculture to reel in the child market.

How boring is your diet? Cause this is apparently a shock for you, but most adults like sweets. We also like fruits. Theres a reason why flavored vodka isnt restricted to piss and old coffee grounds as its primary flavors. People, yes even the adult ones, like things that taste good. And, oooooh another shocker, they want the things they like to have good flavor options.

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RedAggroBest 11 points 3 years ago

How does anyone ever regulate what "flavors marketed to kids" entails? Plenty of adults like sweet, fruity flavors. What about vanilla? Very generic yet it'd attract kids. I do think nicotine is a scourge, and smoking is waaaaaaaay worse than vaping, just wanting to know how this would work

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dmention7 -9 points 3 years ago

That's a fair question. My POV is that not being able to buy sweet fruity flavors might be inconvenient to some adults, but it's hardly something that could be argued to cause an undue burden on vape users.

It would probably be straightforward to commission a study (or leverage existing study data) to identify the flavors that underage users are most likely to use and start there. If data shows that removing or restricting those flavors is not an impediment to underage vaping, then at that point reconsider the regulations.

Even if some manufacturers choose to skirt the regulations (no this isn't "grape", it's "purple berry"!), larger companies with the biggest market share are probably not going to want to get tangled up in high visibility lawsuits, and so the likely outcome is that availability goes down, and therefore so does the access and use rate.

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Corkyskog 8 points 3 years ago

Let's start with alcohol, my child won't be dead tomorrow from a vape. They might from a grape flavored bottle of Smirnoff.

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GiveMemes 6 points 3 years ago

I vape bc it's supposedly a little better for my health but when I'm in NYC I just smoke cigarettes bc flavored vapes are banned and tobacco/nonflavored vapes taste worse than cigs somehow lmao.

I feel like moving smokers from a less harmful alternative bc "think of the kids" is stupid. Like yeah I started smoking as a teenager too and I do regret having started, but the fruity flavors didn't make it enticing, it was the fact that I was a teenager and I wasn't supposed to be doing it. But disregarding my anecdotal experience, it still seems like a move that would shift people back to inhaling burning plant matter, rat poison, and tar into their lungs instead of vegetable oil and nicotine salts.

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barsoap 5 points 3 years ago

Sweet is a taste not a flavour and vapes are always sweet because PG and VG is. If anything you could argue brussel sprouts vs. apples but last I checked, adults eat apples.

Also to be consistent you need to outlaw like 98% of liqueurs out there as them containing fruit obviously means they're targeted towards children.

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FauxPseudo 26 points 3 years ago

Regulatory capture. Be a big business. Lobby (give money to) politicians to get regulated. Make sure you have the money to implement the regulations. Make sure almost no one else has the money or opportunity to get the money to implement the regulations. Regulations force competitors out of business or make it possible to buy them. Regulations make it impossible for anyone new to compete against you. 3) Profit

This time last year we had Meta burning millions on commercials saying "the laws for the internet were passed on 1996. That's older than I am. We need new regulations to keep the internet safe." Aka it's not enough to buy all our competitors, we need to make sure no startups are even possible. We have the money and we want to make the rules.

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ThrowawayPermanente 23 points 3 years ago

I think it's really important that someone is finally standing up to Big Vape. This is a very brave move by Big Tobacco.

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PhantomPhreak 5 points 3 years ago

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autotldr 5 points 3 years ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The London-based tobacco company BAT has called for “more stringent” regulations on vaping, including a licensing regime similar to alcohol and cigarettes.

It sells Rothmans and Lucky Strike cigarettes, and is the most successful of the big western tobacco companies when it comes to the UK's booming market for disposable vapes, thought to be worth at least £3bn a year.

The company also wants a ban on soft drink, sweet or dessert flavours such as gummy bear or cotton candy, which it says appeal “uniquely” to the young.

The Local Government Association has called for single-use vapes to be banned, as they cause a litter problem and a fire risk in bin lorries, and appeal too strongly to children.

However, it does not support a ban on colourful packaging, nor on advertising or sports sponsorship – as it argues that these are still an important way to convince smokers to switch.

If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk.

The original article contains 474 words, the summary contains 187 words. Saved 61%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

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Rice_Daddy 2 points 3 years ago

I guess it'd be less catchy if it'd said vape firm calls for tighter regulation on vapes. 🤷🏻‍♂️

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safetygunfatpopcorn -11 points 3 years ago

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TheFriar 8 points 3 years ago

…huh?