§ Paul FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement on the harm caused to nicotine users of(a) using oral tobacco and (b) smoking cigarettes; [34906]
(2) what advice he received from (a) the Chief Medical Officer, (b) the Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health and (c) other public health experts regarding the public health implications of the ban on oral tobacco products agreed in Article 8 of EU Directive 2001/37/EC. [34904]
§ Yvette Cooper[holding answer 11 February 2002]: Tobacco use is harmful to human health, both in oral forms and when smoked. Smoking tobacco is associated with various cancers, lung disease, cardiovascular disease and peptic ulcers. There are fewer data on which to appraise the full range of health risk from oral tobacco but it is associated with development of cancer in humans, notably mouth cancers. Oral use of tobacco produces blood nicotine levels, which are comparable to those of cigarette smokers.
The Department has not sought advice from the Chief Medical Officer or the Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health on the public health implications specific to the ban on oral tobacco products agreed in Article 8 of European Union Directive 2001/37/EC. In the United Kingdom in general there is no recent tradition of oral tobacco consumption but there is a tradition of use of oral products among some ethnic minority communities. The Department has a programme of work on tobacco use in ethnic minorities, which will address this issue with appropriate expert advice.