2023 Session 1 Seminars

England has seen a rapid increase in the use of disposable vapes particularly by youth. What factors have led to this increase in youth vaping and does England’s approach need changing in response? At one extreme, there are people who believe youth vaping is of little concern, whilst at the other extreme people see youth vaping as a reason to ban vaping altogether. In addition, with 7 years to go, England is adopting new measures to achieve its Smokefree 2030 goal – where and how does vaping fit in and what regulatory framework for vaping will best facilitate achieving this goal?

Now, more than ever we need to get together, exchange views on the evidence and potential solutions, and challenge one other.

In this keynote talk Professor Notley will discuss and highlight the latest evidence on young peoples use of nicotine containing vapes, specifically disposables. She will draw attention to a missing evidence source in the debate about youth vaping – the voice of young people themselves. Young people have clear views, and are influenced by media messages that are consequential for their behaviour, which is particularly important when many young people view vaping and tobacco smoking as interchangeable behaviours.  This session will challenge “dualisms” (focusing either on youth prevention OR adult cessation) and the impact of wording such as “no long term data” and how this is heard and interpreted.  Finally, Professor Notley will ask if we are scapegoating young people and where should collective responsibility lie.

The multi-faceted nature of tobacco control and harm reduction, made more complex by industry, media and public opinion requires constant re-evaluation to consider policy options to improve public health. The Royal College of Physicians re-visits this complex problem in a forthcoming report due in 2024, this presentation will discuss its latest assessment.

The question of whether the use and/or availability of e-cigarettes leads to more young people smoking than they would have otherwise is a contentious one. Whereas some people say there is clear evidence of vaping acting as a ‘gateway’ into smoking, others argue the exact opposite. In this talk, Jamie will dissect some of the biggest studies out there on this topic, consider the conclusions of existing systematic reviews in this area, and reflect on what could be done better in this research – including the populations studied, and methods used.

The Cochrane review of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation is now a living systematic review, which means that it is updated when new evidence becomes available. The reviews also include data on biomarkers of health and on adverse events. Trials included in the review however have up to now only concerned e-cigarette use for up to two years. The presentation will cover the Cochrane findings and also consider the efficacy and safety of vaping over long term

This paper is based on research into the history of policy making and institutions in 3 countries which have taken different approaches to the regulation of e-cigarettes. In the UK the tradition of harm reduction through nicotine has helped form a response which has endorsed e-cigarettes .The US has a cessation only anti tobacco agenda while Australia has effectively banned e-cigarettes. Each country filters its policy making through different histories, regulatory apparatuses, policy players and prioritises the health of different groups within the population. This long-standing context  helps explain differing policy responses.

In  October the Prime Minister announced the most comprehensive government plan to reduce smoking in 20 years. Addressing the latest challenges and opportunities it uncouples age of sale of tobacco products and safer nicotine products and embeds “Stop to Swap” as a key part of our plan to help smokers to quit and combines this with regulations to reduce the risk of nicotine naïve youth starting to smoke. As in New Zealand, so in England we believe we are in a unique year by year, to make smoking obsolete.

• What are the research gaps around population impact?
• Have countries who have followed a more prohibitive route on vaping fared better?
• Based on our interpretation of the evidence, the UK has taken a different path than many other countries – do we need to change?
• How do we balance smoking and vaping policies between children and adults?
• Has vaping facilitated a more radical tobacco control policy?