Smoking rates on the Isle of Man are falling, but a rise in youth vaping is causing major concern for the the island’s Director of Public Health,
Dr Matthew Tyrer was giving evidence to the House of Keys Select Committee on Tobacco and Nicotine Products.
He said that by comparison to the adjacent isle, fewer islanders are smokers 10.8% compared to England’s 11.6%.
However, while smoking is down, vaping among young people is on the rise.
Smuggling
With the UK planning a generational ban on tobacco, Dr Tyrer said the island needs to consider keeping track with this or else it could provide a loophole that could be beneficial to groups in the UK.
He said: “I think that is true regardless of what particular thing we’re talking about, regulating, having a discontinuity in the regulatory landscape between us and the United Kingdom would, I would, and I would defer to the opinions of those in trading standards and the regulatory landscape,.
“But it is reasonable to make an assumption that it would lead to people trying to exploit the loophole that we would be leaving open, with a potential impact then on us becoming somewhere where a tobacco illicit tobacco use, tobacco smuggling, could be something which we would see more of, because that loophole exists.”
Vaping
Dr. Tyrer said: “The vaping rates are higher in younger people than they are in older people. But, what we are seeing as a trend is people who are stopping smoking using vaping as a mechanism to reduce their smoking or to quit entirely.”
He said that part of the issue lies in there being a “degree of aggressive marketing of vapes as a nicotine-containing product towards children and young people”.
He added: ” I understand that the legislative picture has changed here, so it’s ahead in terms of the way that vapes are marketed, compared to to England.
“But what we were seeing when I was in my previous role as Director of Public Health across we would see that it was the positioning of vapes and the marketing of vapes to push them in using bright colours and flavours like bubble gum and popcorn and so forth to make them appealing to young people.”
Quitting
Despite the negatives, Dr Tyrer said the island’s smoking cessation services are delivering impressive results.
“Between April 2023 and March 2024, 271 clients set a quit date with the service, and 194 of those successfully quit,” he said.
Comparing this to UK data, he said the adjacent isle typically sees a 54% success rate.
The island’s goal to go smoke-free by 2030 is ambitious, but Dr. Tyrer insists it’s achievable with the right measures.
He said: “The biggest drivers of reducing smoking rates haven’t been things that happen on a small scale. They have been things that have happened at a significant national scale in countries around the world.”
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