HC Deb 31 March 1977 vol 929 cc226-8W
Mr. Crouch

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement concerning his policy towards the production and development of substitute tobacco in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Pavitt

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, following the meeting on 25th March of the Independent Scientific Committee on Smoking and Health he will make an announcement about the marketing of tobacco substitutes and additives.

Mr. Ennals

My right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and I have received a report from Dr. Hunter, Chairman of the Independent Scientific Committee on Smoking and Health, which I have discussed with him. We regard this as a valuable contribution to the success of the Government's general strategy on smoking and health and hope that the conclusions of the committee will be fully supported by all concerned.

The substance of the report is as follows: We had been considering for some while two submissions for the use of tobacco substitutes; one from a Consortium of Gallaher and Carreras Rothman for 'Cytrel', a product of the Celanese Corporation, and the other from Imperial Tobacco Company for NSM (New Smoking Material) a product of ICI. These submissions have included a vast amount of scientific data and I would like to pay tribute to the prodigious help given to the Committee by the scientific secretariat in analysing all of this material. In the case of Cytrel the Committee concluded that it had no objection to raise on the scientific data submitted. In the case of NSM, the tests carried out did not go as far as those set out in the first report of the Committee, but the submission contained considerable supplementary information sufficient to satisfy the Committee that it should be considered within the terms of flexibility described in paragraph 2 of our first report to cover circumstances where tests had been started before the Committee's guidelines were available. We were, therefore, also able to say that we find NSM unobjectionable. This is not to say that the Committee is now prepared to see the unrestricted use of these substances. We believe that we should retain control to the extent that manufacturers should state the precise proportion of inclusion of the substitute and the other specifications of the cigarettes which will contain it. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, the scientific evidence relates only to particular proportions of tobacco with tobacco substitutes and particular types of tobacco. If manufacturers wished to use the substitute in circumstances widely different from those for the tests, it could be scientifically unsafe to extrapolate the favourable evidence we currently have. The other reason concerns our desire to see the progressive development of milder cigarettes. The marketing submissions we have received indicate that the immediate intention of the companies is to market cigarettes containing substitutes which have a very low tar and nicotine yield. We would, however, wish to retain our influence should, at a later stage, the manufacturers consider marketing a brand with a high tar and nicotine tobacco but reduce the yield of the cigarette by the inclusion of the substitute. The marketing submission by Gallahers is sufficiently precise to enable us to say that we find it unobjectionable. The submissions from Carreras/Rothman and Imperials need to be clarified and we intend to ask the companies for more details regarding the products to be sold. We do not intend that this action should hinder the companies as we have given our secretariat authority to agree the submissions forthwith if they are satisfactory. We have imposed one other condition in relation to substitutes. Before any cigarettes containing them are marketed, we require that the companies shall agree a firm date for the commencement of long-term human health studies and that the protocol and organization of them shall be established. The position with regard to tobacco additives, which in general have not previously been permitted in the UK, has become pressing because of the impending changes in fiscal legislation on tobacco to bring us into line with the other EEC members, and which will render inoperative current controls over the use of additives. In our minds there are two categories of additives; those which have been in long-term (20 years) use in Western Europe or North America without any evidence of their adverse effect, and others without such a history. At our meeting we considered a list of some 400 additives which form the first category and we were able to say that we found a substantial majority of them unobjectionable. We are content that these substances may be used with tobacco within quantities which we have specified without any marketing submission being made. Marketing submissions would be required for any proposals to use these additives with a tobacco substitute. We may add to the 'permitted' list from time to time. For the other category of additives which either do not have a history of long-term use or for those which we need further evidence (as for instance cocoa powder about which the evidence is unclear), we will need a marketing submission, supported by full scientific data including inhalation tests on animals. Some 30 submissions in this category have been received and we will be considering them at our subsequent meetings. Meanwhile the companies are being told the tests required to satisfy the Committee. You will wish to know that in all our conclusions on tobacco substitutes and additives we were unanimous in our findings. At the end of our meeting we issued a simple statement to the Press that our conclusions would be reported to the appropriate companies and to the Secretaries of State for Health. We think that it will now be for Ministers to decide, in association with the industry as appropriate, what is to be said and when, bearing in mind that the information provided to the Committee was given in confidence by the companies concerned although we will encourage them to publish it in due course. Later in the year we will be providing you with a more detailed report on our activities.