I’ve got a little list

Final word, for now, on the disposable vape ban.

The following is a short and far from exhaustive list of governments, NGOs, campaign groups and companies that support the policy:

UK Government
Scottish Government
Welsh Government
Local Government Authority
Public Health Scotland
Public Health Wales
Action on Smoking and Health
British Thoracic Society
Cancer Research UK
Royal College of Paediatricians and Child Health
School and Public Health Nurses Association
Fire Protection Association
Keep Britain Tidy
Green Alliance
RSPCA

To that little list you can add multiple trading standards officers, countless local authorities, and hundreds of MPs including Bob Blackman, chair of the APPG on Smoking and Health and arguably the most annoying and self-satisfied man in Parliament.

If I had the time and inclination I could add many more, but it’s the following that interest me most:

Independent British Vape and Trade Association (IBVTA)
Totally Wicked (vape retailer)
Riot Labs (e-liquid manufacturer)

While John Dunne, director-general of the UK Vape Industry Association (UKVIA), was doing the media rounds telling anyone who would listen why he and the UKVIA are against a disposable vape ban, the IBVTA was highlighting the ‘environmental opportunity’ of banning single use vapes.

I’ve mentioned Totally Wicked before, most recently last week when Liam Humberstone, who is a spokesman for both Totally Wicked and the IBVTA, was on BBC Radio Sussex supporting the ban on environmental grounds. (See ‘Normalising prohibition’.)

Riot Labs’ LinkedIn account describes the company as a ‘playfully anti-establishment brand that resonated with people of all walks as we stuck it to big tobacco’.

I’m not a vaper, so forgive my ignorance, but I hadn’t heard of the company until a few weeks ago when I saw them mentioned in a report in Convenience Store.

The idea that the company considers itself ‘anti-establishment’ when it supports government and public health policy on disposable vapes and describes itself as a 'smoking cessation company' is one of the funniest things I have ever read.

After all, what could be more ‘establishment’ than that?

Riot Labs not only support the single use vape ban, they even joined forces with Laura Young (aka Less Waste Laura), the ‘environmental campaigner’ whose successful campaign to ban the device has been lauded by politicians, environmental and public health campaigners, and the BBC (ie the establishment).

To be fair, the name Riot Labs shrieks of a desire to sound edgy. However, the description of the company as ‘quit smoking missionaries’ could apply to Philip Morris and British American Tobacco as well, given the stated ambition of those (big tobacco) companies to work towards a smoke-free future.

Meanwhile I do wonder if the ‘independent’ vape sector’s support for a disposable vape ban has been thought through. Sure, it might earn them a few brownie points now, but beyond that?

The reality, as I understand it, is that rechargeable vapes that look very similar to single use devices are already on the market, and many cost only a little more than their prohibited cousin.

The chances are that these still legal vapes will be chucked away in much the same way as disposable vapes, creating the same environmental issues.

How long then before Less Waste Laura embarks on another campaign to ban these cheap reusable vapes that many customers can’t be bothered to recharge or refill because, to put it bluntly, it’s too much hassle?

ASH, of course, will demand that taxes on all vapes are increased to make them more expensive and less attractive to young people, a policy guaranteed to drive vapers to the unregulated (and untaxed) black market.

In short, I’m looking forward to seeing how this plays out because any sympathy I had for the ‘independent’ vape sector disappeared when I saw the bed they were happy to lie in, and the people they were prepared to share it with.

Riot Labs even organised a ‘disposable vape farewell party’, arguing that the ban is a ‘national moment up there with the pub smoking ban’. Seriously?

That apart, imagine celebrating the prohibition of a popular consumer product, let alone comparing it (favourably, I assume) to something that led to multiple pub closures and the loss of thousands of jobs.

But wait, what’s this?

John Dunne, director-general of the UKVIA which opposed the ban on disposable vapes, yesterday ‘liked’ a Riot Labs’ post on LinkedIn that began:

We’ve officially said good riddance to disposable vapes which have now been made illegal across England, Scotland and Wales in a landmark move for the vape industry.

While the devices helped millions of adult smokers quit - they’re wasteful, bad for the environment and we’ve always supported the ban.

John, I’m confused. Help me out here.