Why Britain needs a nicotine regulation authority

To bring consistency and regulation to tobacco and alternative nicotine products

In the United Kingdom, as in most developed countries, strict laws apply to the production and supply of goods and services to the public. An important function of this legislation is to protect consumers from damage caused by the products they buy, and in many cases this protection extends to levels of risk that are, at an individual level, extremely small. It is therefore an anomaly that cigarettes, which if used as intended kill half of all regular consumers,1 enjoy remarkable freedom from consumer protection legislation.

Cigarettes are not a food, so are not regulated by the Food Standards Agency, and not medicines, so are not regulated by the Medicines Control Agency. They are a consumer product but are exempt from the Consumer Protection Act 1987 and General Product Safety Regulations 1994. Thus the most dangerous product on general sale in the UK is subject to the least regulatory control.

Cigarettes kill because they produce nicotine, which …