Tobacco and Vapes Bill (Third sitting)

Debate between Nickie Aiken and Mary Kelly Foy

Committee stage
Wednesday 1st May 2024 Public Bill Committees

[Mary Kelly Foy]

Q This question is particularly for Professor Hawthorne. From your experience, can you tell us what impact smoking tobacco has on our most deprived communities?

Professor Hawthorne: It is much more prevalent. There is a theory called future discounting. If you have few choices—if you do not have much money and much choice in what you eat, what you do and where you work—you do not think about your health in 20 years’ time; you think about today. Many people feel that smoking helps them get through the day, and that is what they do. It is a really difficult thing to talk to people about because some people will say to me, “I’ve just got to. I can’t get through my day otherwise.” I can say, “There are alternatives. There are other ways that we can help you get you through your day,” but you have to get them round the clock face that I was talking about, until the point comes when they say, “I’ve got to do it now.”

[Nickie Aiken]

Q Vapes—or e-cigarettes, whatever you want to call them—were introduced to help people to stop smoking. Professor Hawthorne, I would be particularly interested in your view on this, as a GP. We know that vaping has been turned into a massive industry now, but if the whole point of vapes, or e-cigarettes, is to get people to stop smoking tobacco, what is your view about vapes being prescribed?

Professor Hawthorne: Do you mean as part of a smoking cessation programme?