Tobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)

Debate between Caroline Johnson and Bambos Charalambous

Committee stage
Wednesday 1st May 2024 Public Bill Committees

[Dr Johnson]

Q Could you clarify something else? If I were a vape manufacturer wanting to get full registration as a medical product for one of my vapes, and I did an apple flavour and a gummy bear flavour, would I have to put those products through separately because the apple flavour is a different chemical to the gummy bear flavour?

Dr Squire: Any product that has different constituents would have to be put through separately, because we would have to test everything. I can see the issue around flavouring is about making it attractive to children, and we are not interested in that, but we look at what the chemicals and substances are in a product, which will be different for different flavours, so we would have to look at those separately and make sure that they all came up to scratch.

[Bambos Charalambous (Enfield, Southgate) (Lab)]

Q I ask more for clarification, if a GP wanted to offer a patient a vape as a means of reducing smoking, would that have to be licensed by the MHRA as a medical device? Would it have to be licensed through your organisation?

Dr Squire: Yes, if you want a licensed product that can be prescribed, that would be a medical product. I know, because I was talking to one earlier, that GPs do recommend that their patients go and buy a vape. They do not have any choices at the moment, because there are no licensed products available on the market in the UK.