Advertising feature from BAT UK

England has a golden opportunity to be one of the very first countries globally to bring its smoking rate to below 5 per cent, thereby meeting the World Health Organisation’s definition of ‘smoke free’. The government has set itself the ambitious, and laudable, target of reaching this important milestone by 2030. At BAT we have similar ambitions. Our purpose is to create A Better Tomorrow™ by Building a Smokeless World. The way we will do this is by switching as many smokers as we can to our smokeless products, including nicotine pouches – small tobacco-free nicotine pouches placed between the lip and the gum.

You may have recently seen billboard or newspaper adverts calling for better regulation of the vaping industry, to help combat the levels of underage vaping and the sale of illegal vapes. These are the work of BAT, the biggest vaping manufacturer based in the UK. As a FTSE 10 UK company, our call for the government to regulate the industry more strongly may be seen by some as counterintuitive. However, a government consultation on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill closes on Wednesday. To remain silent now, as the vaping industry reaches an inflection point, would be to squander this opportunity. There is widespread consensus that vaping has encouraged millions of smokers to switch.

It is estimated there are more than half a million nicotine pouch users in the UK. That’s roughly the equivalent of the population of Manchester, up from zero just four years ago when nicotine pouches first became available in the UK. The increasingly popular product offers adult smokers and nicotine users an oral, tobacco-free and smoke-free nicotine alternative. Placed under the lip, the pouches allow nicotine to be absorbed through the lining of the mouth. According to estimates by British American Tobacco UK (BAT UK), there may be more than two million regular nicotine-pouch users in the UK by 2026. The surging popularity of nicotine pouches is timely news for those committed to delivering on the government’s Smoke Free 2030 target for England.

Vaping is the key to unlocking the government’s target for England to become smoke-free by 2030 – achieved when less than 5 per cent of adults smoke. But without regulatory change, the benefits that come with vaping could be at risk. The Chartered Trading Standards Institute this month published a report stating that one in three vape products in the UK may be non-compliant, and that a third of shops knowingly sell vapes to those aged under 18. This should alarm all those who recognise the role that vapes can play in bringing down smoking rates. Vaping misinformation is a pernicious problem which the NHS has identified as a serious barrier to helping smokers switch to a less harmful alternative.

We need bold and decisive leadership if this is to be averted. Here’s BAT UK’s checklist to unlock smoke free 2030 and reduce national smoking rates to below 5%. Spread the word Vaping is the key to delivering on England’s smoke free 2030 target, and to help level up the country’s health inequalities. More than 50,000 smokers are ditching cigarettes for vapes every year in England, according to ASH. Yet misinformation about vaping remains a very serious roadblock. The NHS, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have all separately identified misinformation about vaping as a serious barrier to further progress.