John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am interested in this area. I grew up in a generation to which tobacco companies have been discovered to have deliberately and intentionally lied about the contents and ingredients of cigarettes. They have since been taken to the cleaners in many class actions. That whole space left a bad taste in people's mouths, if everyone will pardon the pun. I have just looked at the VAT figures for British American Tobacco, which has gone into vaping, electronic cigarettes and other tobacco substitutes. Its profits have been soaring in the last few years, mainly because of that move. These product's association with the tobacco industry does not sit well with me. Again, I grew up when tobacco companies were creating a seductive impression of smoking and I see some common ground here in that regard. The back of Time magazine used to have the famous Marlboro man cowboy advertisements on it. Tobacco brands provided massive amounts of sponsorship for motor racing, showjumping, snooker and other sports. While I get that the representatives are here to talk about vaping, I note that you can barely watch a movie these days in which the lead character is not smoking continuously and endlessly. There seems to be product placement involved. That is very much in the memory.

Debate on this issue is divided into two camps. Vaping acting as either a gateway in or a gateway out has been mentioned. The gateway in seriously concerns me. Mr. Connolly said that less than 1% of those vaping are new to smoking but that speaks to the seductive piece I mentioned. I see vaping paraphernalia for sale in my local shop. It is right behind the cash register and the shopkeeper is selling it. That is not an issue for the representatives' association but regulation is needed. I see the way it is packaged. It is very seductively packaged, like an iPhone. The products are lovely to hold. They are pretty items, almost like playthings. All of that packaging reminds me of the way in which cigarettes were marketed over the years. That is a problem, as is where they are placed. I have real problems with that seductive nature and appealing marketing influencing anybody under 18 with regard to vaping acting a gateway in. I have a real issue with that.

I have some sympathy for the argument that it can act as a gateway out but more compelling evidence must be provided. I am looking at a information from Johns Hopkins University, and vaping definitely seems to be less harmful than smoking. I am sure that thousands of smokers are still alive because they switched to vaping, which had a less negative impact on their bodies and various organs. However, we do not know some of the ingredients. There are approximately 7,000 chemicals in a cigarette. We do not know all of the ingredients in vaping fluids. That is what Johns Hopkins University is saying.