Peer tries to derail tobacco and vapes bill

[Retro]

There's nothing like a little corruption to try and derail the important tobacco and vapes bill. Warms your heart, don't it?

A member of the House of Lords who is trying to derail the generational ban on tobacco sales discussed the legislation with a family member who is “very high up” at British American Tobacco (BAT).

Lord Strathcarron is proposing amendments that would scrap the central provision of the tobacco and vapes bill, originally proposed by Rishi Sunak’s government.

If the bill is passed in its original form, the UK would become only the second country to implement a so-called generational smoking ban, making it illegal to sell tobacco to anyone born after 2008.

Strathcarron’s proposal is to simply raise the legal purchase age from 18 to 21.

The change proposed by the peer, who in a recent speech in the Lords described cigars as “harmless”, mirrors BAT’s lobbying position.

The result would be that millions more people could legally be sold tobacco products over the coming decades.

Peer trying to derail UK smoking ban discussed bill with relative at tobacco firm

Lord Strathcarron says he and an in-law ‘high up’ at British American Tobacco discussed bill, which he aims to weaken

www.theguardian.com

 

[Hitcore]

It's tempting to make an "oi do you have a loicense for that fag m8" meme but tobacco products are far from harmless. I used to be a smoker, up until little over 2 years ago. My stamina went to absolute shit, and I'd like to be a few years older than my dad has become. Him smoking shag (yes, it really is called that, he smoked this, which is some heavy rolling tobacco) messed him up quite fatally.

The tobacco lobby is strong. It's hard to imagine that there was a time when they even had real doctors in advertisements, recommending certain cigarette brands, even when they knew about the effects of tobacco. Goes to show that science can be a corruptable field as well.

Usually I'm not a fan of banning things, we shouldn't cut out every single risk in life and lead sterile lives. But the harm smoking does is just about the leading cause of death, so it's not crazy to put the limit there.

 

[Retro]

I'm really glad you've quit smoking. Over the years, I've known several friends and family who've done this which always makes me happy.

Usually I'm not a fan of banning things, we shouldn't cut out every single risk in life and lead sterile lives. But the harm smoking does is just about the leading cause of death, so it's not crazy to put the limit there.

+1 on that. Sometimes censorship is required, it's just that the line is grey, very grey and people are going to have different opinions on where it should be.