RESET sets out the five key pillars for the risk-proportionate regulation of vaping. If these principles are adopted, the potential for smoking cessation, consumer and regulatory confidence in vaping could be significantly increased. Lives of adult smokers can be saved.
1. Risk-Based Regulation
Regulation on vaping should be risk-proportionate, discouraging consumers to use the most harmful combustible tobacco products and encouraging them to quit or switch to less harmful non-combustible products, such as e-cigarettes. The right balance should be struck, to avoid relapse to smoking for vapers.
The World Health Organisation and governments need to study and adopt best practice tobacco control and harm reduction policies, as in the UK, for example. Vaping is not prohibited here, but actively recommended for those adult smokers who are unable or unwilling to quit smoking.
RESET Recommends:
Proportionate taxes: The highest taxes on cigarettes but lower tax or no tax on low-risk products, with tax differentials reflecting the likely difference in risk.
Smart communications: Complete bans on cigarette advertising, but controls on content, target audience and placement of vaping promotions (to allow for smokers to be able to switch to less harmful alternatives).
Risk information: Strong graphic health warnings and plain packaging for cigarettes. Vaping products to contain information about the relative lower risk associated with them and appropriate nicotine warnings.
Product standards: Product regulation of cigarettes focussed on reducing aspects of product appeal, but prudent regulation via product standards to improve and standardise vaping safety and quality.
Information campaigns: Avoid campaigns to reduce vaping consumption regardless of the impact on quitting smoking. Instead, realistic information on the risks of vaping and how it can be used to quit smoking.
Supporting quitters: Regulatory frameworks that would enhance the accessibility, affordability and acceptability of non-combustible alternatives, such as vaping, to adult smokers.
2. Ensuring Intended Use and Preventing Youth Uptake
Vaping devices can play a critical role in smoking substitution or cessation worldwide. However, their purpose should be clearly stated and understood and their design and features should ensure they are used by their intended audience only.
RESET Recommends:
Adult-only use: Ensuring that all vaping devices and e-liquids are equipped with safety features which ensure that the products can only be used by adults, with a minimum recommended age of use of 18. This could include leveraging existing connectivity technologies.
Design integrity: Manufacturers must ensure the design integrity of their vaping products. Manufacturers should ensure that their devices cannot be tampered with or manipulated to enable their use with substances for which they are not designed or intended.
Youth access prevention: Implement mandatory training on youth access prevention for retailers, severe penalties in case of underage sale violations, age verification technology, banning of descriptors that could be regarded as child-enticing, ban on marketing to children, regulations which only permit those closed systems where the activation of the device meets established child-resistant criteria.
Prevention of tampering: Regulations need to be in place to restrict or prohibit those open vaping systems which cannot ensure safe refilling of the device/tank. Ultimately, all efforts need to be made to ensure that children and minors cannot ingest the nicotine liquid, either accidentally or by tampering.
3. Safety & Quality
The safety and quality of vaping products must be guaranteed to the greatest extent possible, through sound regulation.
RESET Recommends:
Ingredients: Only the highest-quality ingredients should be used to make e-liquids. All ingredients need to be toxicologically risk-assessed.
Emissions testing: Manufacturers should ensure vaping products do not operate at temperatures that cause combustion or that lead to the formation of unintended chemicals. Following the direction and guidance in existing national vaping standards, an agreed list of analytes of concern should be compiled; emissions should be tested for the presence of these analytes and the results routinely reported to regulators, with data available publicly to inform consumers.
Certification: Manufacturers should routinely verify compliance with legal quality and safety criteria and supply such evidence to the relevant authorities.
4. Environmental Considerations
Vaping devices have an environmental footprint. All those involved in their manufacturing distribution and consumption must ensure that this footprint is kept at a minimum and continues to reduce it further.
RESET Recommends:
Responsible design: Manufacturers of vaping products must incorporate waste collection and recycling into their designs. Where possible, recyclable materials should be used in the manufacture of products, and take-back schemes should be mandated for pods and devices.
Lifecycle planning: At the end of their lifetime, pods and devices should be recyclable through vendors, recycling centers, or postal services.
Supporting consumers: Vapers should be encouraged to recycle products.
Penalties: Manufacturers should be penalised if they do not provide proper collection and recycling solutions.
5. Traceability and Fiscal Policies
To combat illicit trade and facilitate proper taxation of vaping, traceability needs to be enhanced. Appropriate technologies need to be applied so that regulators and consumers can have confidence in vaping products.
RESET Recommends:
Enforcement: Authentication of genuine products by enforcement agencies and verification of payment of taxes where levied.
Manufacturer requirements: Traceability of products throughout the supply chain and improved communication platforms.
Age-restrictions: Proof of age verification, to ensure youth access prevention.
