Health Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support the Government’s position and not the amendment proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Borrie. I am intrigued by the arguments made by the noble Lord about the tobacco trade. Clearly, there are two issues here. One is the large manufacturers, and the other is the plight of small businesses. We have all had a large number of letters from small businesses, and they deserve our understanding and sympathy. My own village shop is absolutely crucial to the life of my village, and the whole community circulates around it. However, I doubt very much indeed whether this Bill will make our shop close. It is there for a wide range of goods and services. No one has yet banned the National Lottery, which seems to be a great joy for a large number of people in my village. I do not think that small businesses are going to suffer. We have heard a great deal about the costs of these gantries, with inflated stories on one side, and understanding that there are people who want to deliver these on the other. If noble Lords have not seen illustrations of these, I would encourage them to do so. Why do I take this view about the benefits of the provision? Other noble Lords have not spoken a great deal about research into smoking among children. I have looked with interest at Professor Hastings’ research, as well as the work in Canada—it is my field—and I know that we do not have longitudinal research. However, we have strong indicative research into the effects on the perception of gantries among children. I am continually bemused by the attitude of the industry. If gantries do not have any effect, as companies keep on telling us, why are they so keen to keep them? Why are they keen to carry on developing lines, as the noble Lord illustrated? We have a double argument here: it is important, yet it has no effect. Even if we cannot prove the effect on children, we can prove the risk, because, as noble Lords have said, children start smoking early. Most people who smoke may be 32 or over, but they have usually started very early and it is our duty to help our children to stop smoking. We may not know other things, but we know from research that cancer kills. We know of the link between smoking and cancer. We know that smokers start early. We strongly suspect the link between advertising and consumption—otherwise, why the universal ban on advertising after all the arguments we went through some years ago? If we care about the lives of our children, why are we not enforcing the precautionary principle? I spent years in the Food Standards Agency worrying about the precautionary principle in relation to BSE and vCJD. We are now invoking the precautionary principle in relation to swine flu: one case closed down a whole school. When we know as much as we do and still do not emphasise the precautionary principle on behalf of the lives of our children and their future, we are abdicating responsibility. Therefore I support the Government and oppose the amendment.