...Members may be aware that there's been an issue in the
United States, which is currently in the process of banning
most flavoured E-cigarettes. Hundreds of people are
suffering from a mysterious lung illness. I know that vaping
products in America are different to the vaping products
here—the nicotine is much stronger, the other chemicals in
them are stronger—but nonetheless, there's an issue there and
some of my constituents have been asking me what my opinion
is. I'm not an expert on vaping, but I wonder whether we
could have an update on the guidance of the Welsh Government
in the light of those concerns.
...In terms of E-cigarettes, I know that reports from
the United States of the cluster of serious pulmonary
disease amongst people who use E-cigarettes are very concerning.
However, I think that it's fair to say at the moment the
exact cause of the disease is unknown. But we're very
clear in Welsh Government that E-cigarettes shouldn't be used by
non-smokers, they should not be used by young people. At
the same time, we recognise some people have found them
to be helpful in terms of helping them stop smoking, but
we're very clear that evidence of the longer term health
affects of e-cigarette use is currently very limited. We
are working with partners across Wales to develop a
shared consensus about E-cigarettes that is evidence
based and I'm sure that we'll have more to say on that in
due course, but in the meantime we'd certainly encourage
anyone who wants to quit smoking to call our free
national helpline, Help Me Quit, on 0800 085 2219. We
also have our helpmequit.wales website, which you can
also visit as well, should anybody be
interested.
Full proceedings
