The introduction of vaping was “the revenge of Big Tabacco” and its “mechanism to get nicotine back on the agenda”, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.
Calling for “the strongest possible measures against vaping” Mr Martin said any measures that reduce or eliminate vapes would be positive from the perspective of public health.
“Ireland has made significant moves on that front. We will have significant restrictions coming in next February as a result of legislation passed by the last government,” he said.
Speaking at the World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin on Monday, he noted how the early days of vaping products had lacked due diligence and harm assessment.
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“The onset of vaping, I think, caught us off guard,” he said, “we’re catching up a bit later in Ireland with that”.
Comparing the relatively recent phenomenon to an era of widespread cigarette smoking, Mr Martin said “the same tactics designed by the tobacco industry are absolutely in evidence here in respect of vaping, to a disgraceful degree”.
The use of flavours as well as favourable product placement in supermarkets and vending machines were factors that must be addressed, he said, adding that they would be a continuation of measures adopted last year relating to restrictions on the sale of vapes, a ban on pop-up shops and regulations on the colour and images on packaging.
“All the same issues we had to deal with in respect to cigarettes, we have to deal with vaping,” Mr Martin said.
“The international research is there now and our own public health is at the same point in terms of the evil of vaping and the damage it does to people, young people and adults alike”.
Director general of the World Health Organisation Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, also at the conference , said Ireland had long been at the forefront of tobacco control, including being the first country to make all indoor public places smoke-free in 2004.
“No matter how it’s packaged, tobacco kills,” he said, citing a figure of “over seven million people every year” who die as a result of tobacco use.
Vapes, he said, were “part of a broader strategy by the tobacco industry to profit from addiction, disease and death. The marketing is aggressive, the appeal of their products is strong, and regulation is often weak.”
