The drive to make Scotland smoke-free risks being set back if vape flavours are overly restricted, the country’s retail trade body has warned.
The Scottish Grocers’ Federation (SGF) has written to all MSPs urging them to carefully consider the impact on smoking cessation caused by sweeping new legislation.
It argues that it is possible to prevent vapes from being attractive to children, while at the same time ensuring that smokers looking to quit have a full range of less harmful alternatives available to them.
The new UK government under Sir Keir Starmer announced last week that the Tobacco and Vapes Bill - which the Tories were forced to shelve before the snap general election - will be revived in this Parliament.
The bill proposes new powers for ministers to further restrict key features of vapes and other nicotine alternatives.
The Scottish government has agreed to collaborate with Westminster on the bill. It had already proposed a ban on single-use disposable vapes from April 2025 and has said it will use its devolved powers to take the restrictions even further.
Caution needed over restrictions
However, the SGF is urging caution over going too far with restricting vapes. It says this would mean smokers are less likely to use them to quit the more dangerous habit.
SGF chief executive Dr Pete Cheema OBE said: “We were among the first organisations to publicly call for measures to ensure that product names and packaging are not attractive to children.
“But what our members in convenience stores across the country tell us is that their customers say that the range of flavours - and finding one that works for them - has been the key factor in them stopping smoking.
“If those flavours are not there, it will reduce choice and potentially make it more difficult for smokers to quit, if they want to. That risks setting our public health agenda back and increasing the strain on our NHS.
“We are keen to work with MSPs and the Scottish Government to provide workable legislation which simultaneously encourages vaping amongst adults who wish to quit smoking and discourages it amongst non-smokers, particularly given the evidence of young people vaping.”
‘Smokers should see less harmful alternatives’
SGF has also reiterated its calls for retailers to be allowed to openly display vaping products so that smokers can see the less harmful alternatives available. It says this can be done in a way that presents them as an alternative to smoking, rather than an addition.
The trade body has argued for a nuanced conversation around the future of vaping policy as part of its ‘Healthier Choices, Healthier Communities’ drive.
This includes a series of measures which it believes can help dramatically reduce vaping among children while also ensuring that adult smokers, who wish to quit smoking, can freely and easily access life-changing and life-saving alternatives to cigarettes.
That document has also been shared with MSPs and includes a call to policymakers to ensure current legislation is fully enforced to punish retailers and wholesalers that illegally sell vapes.
