“As founding Chairman of the IBVTA, I have been privileged to have led the IBVTA across five often very challenging years for our sector. As an Association, we together have achieved a great deal and continue to support and engage many stakeholders, such that our sector is provided the fullest opportunity to deliver our remarkable, often life changing products and services to as many consumers across the UK,” said Cropper.
“We are a non-profit, member led Association. One of our greatest achievements is to have been able to put first amongst all our responsibilities and related activity the sector’s best interests and to ensure that narrow parochialism does not affect our strategic direction nor our tactical daily agenda. I must, for this leadership and the commitment shown to our sector, thank the Executive team and our Board of Directors for the selfless and apposite leadership they have exhibited and the personal support to me as we collectively navigated the past five years. I leave the IBVTA in rude health and under a new Chairman, Marcus Saxton; your Association is in safe hands and ready for the challenges that lay ahead.”
The association’s invaluable guidance during the COVID-19 lockdowns
During the lockdowns the UK has faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IBVTA was instrumental in guiding the industry to find ways of staying afloat whilst still adhering to regulations. Moreover, the IBVTA never ceased to remind lawmakers that classifying vape shops as essentials would benefit public health.
Sharing a release by Professor John Britton from the University of Nottingham, and former Chair of the Royal College of Physicians Tobacco Advisory Group, the association reiterated the need to consider vape stores as being part of the solution to decrease smoking rates.
“Every year, over 70,000 people across the UK die of a smoking related illness, and smoking is the largest single cause of avoidable early death in Wales. In 2018, around 5,600 deaths in people aged 35 and over were attributable to smoking, which is 16.5 percent of all deaths in this age group.”
“Reducing the health impacts of smoking is a recognised policy priority for the Welsh Government. Smoking remains one of the main causes of health inequalities in Wales, with smoking rates in the most deprived areas more than double to those in wealthier areas. Providing ready access to safer alternative products should be at the forefront during consideration by governments as to which businesses are deemed essential and permitted to remain open.”
