Tom said he was less worried about national regulations and more concerned at the increasing level of attacks on vaping at a local level .
He said : “ Bans on public use are slowly being chipped in and it is the local councils , the school boards and the sports clubs who are doing this .
“ These bodies are being visited by tobacco control people who are encouraging them to do this and we need to fight back .
“ We need to ensure that there are vapers on these committees , boards and councils to speak up for us and to oppose these bans .”
He added : “ On a national level , Ireland is about to bring in over 18 restrictions on vaping sales and this is something we wholeheartedly support .
“ We have been calling for this for years and have no idea why it has taken until 2022 for it to happen .”
Growth of Counterfeit trade in vape products
CHRIS AIKENS , RELX INTERNATIONAL
Counterfeit and illegal vape products are rapidly becoming the biggest issue for the industry , the ENDS conference was told .
Chris Aikens warned that as the sector continued to grow , the problem would only increase and it was vital that the entire sector worked together to tackle the issue .
He praised the role played by the UKVIA in recent highprofile raids carried out around the country and said they highlighted just how many illegal and counterfeit products were at large .
Chris said : " If we want to uphold quality standards then this is something we all have to invest in across the board .”
UKVIA Director General John Dunne added : “ I have been on some of these raids myself and it is amazing to see the amount of illicit and copycat vape products in the market .
“ It is great to see that companies are taking this seriously , because if we do not act then this could have a very detrimental impact on the entire industry .” because they attract young people but now the narrative has changed .
“ Now we are told that flavour bans are not only to protect young people but to protect people generally from the harm of using flavours .
“ We are still trying to grasp what ‘ harm ’ they are referring to and in reality it seems that the aim must to be to keep up the sales of regular tobacco products .”
Rob added : “ During the pandemic smoking rates in the Netherlands increased while vape sales decreased .
“ We need to activate the silent community of vapers to directly engage with the government and let politicians know how important vaping has been to help smokers quit .”
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