John Dunne, UK Vaping Industry Association Director, said:
“It is vitally important to keep these reports in context. The MHRA themselves say that their yellow-card self-reporting system is not proof that the adverse effects were due to vaping, but a suspicion by people reporting ailments that they believe a vaping device may be the cause of. Different people can suffer adverse effects from a wide variety of products, from paracetamol to food allergies. The fact that less than 15 reports have been made in each of the last five years from the UK’s 3.6 million vapers demonstrates the very high quality and standards that exist in the UK vaping market.
“Smoking causes more than 200 premature deaths in England every single day, and vaping has been proven to make it more likely that people will make that potentially life changing switch.
“As with all cases of this type, it’s important to look at the facts and evidence to avoid knee-jerk reactions which could have seriously detrimental public health effects in the future, including achieving the Government’s ambition for a smokefree future. The link to vaping was not proven in the death of Mr Miller nearly ten years ago, when the regulatory regime in the UK was very different, and more research needs to be done to understand any potential link, both historic and with products on the market today.”