Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 November 2020
324. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health when the public health (tobacco and nicotine inhaling products) Bill will be published; the measures he plans to adopt on e-cigarettes in view of the Health Research Board review on e-cigarettes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37616/20]
View answerIn October 2019 the Government approved the drafting of a Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill. Following Government approval the General Scheme was submitted to the Office of Parliamentary Counsel for drafting and separately referred to the Oireachtas Committee on Health for Pre-Legislative Scrutiny. A first draft of the Bill is awaited in the context of competing priorities such as COVID-19 and Brexit related law.
The Health Research Board carried out three evidence reviews on e-cigarettes. The top level findings of those reviews were that e-cigarettes are not harmless but there is evidence that they are less harmful than tobacco cigarettes, that e-cigarettes are as effective as nicotine replacement therapies for smoking cessation and that there is a positive association between e-cigarette use and subsequent smoking in adolescents.
These findings align with previous international assessments of e-cigarettes, particularly in their primary conclusion that more research is needed to understand longer term effects. The findings support the provisions in our Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill to prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes to persons under 18 and to provide for a licensing system for their sale.
