On July 22, according to foreign reports, Dr. Garrett McGovern, a general practitioner specializing in addiction medicine at the Priority Medical Clinic in Dundrum, Ireland, recently wrote an article about e-cigarettes. He argued that banning e-cigarette flavors would increase the harm and death of smoking and would not protect young people.
The Irish Joint Commission on Health released its report this week on a pre-legislative review of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhalation Products) Bill 2019. Several recommendations were made, including banning all flavors (except tobacco flavors) in e-cigarettes. The rationale given was that flavors would appeal to young people, while removing their availability would be less appealing to teens, which would reduce their use.
The report also noted that tobacco costs Ireland’s coffers 10.6 billion euros a year and 6,000 people die each year from smoking. No one can argue with these dizzying statistics that every effort should be made to reduce the harm that smoking is doing to all of our citizens.
Additionally, one of the goals of the bill is to ensure that young people growing up today have a smoke-free future and to help smokers who want to quit their lifelong addictions. The goal is to achieve a smoke-free Ireland by 2037. We have been making steady progress in reducing the overall number of people smoking. In 2015, 23% of the population smoked. By 2022, that number will be less than 20%.
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