Clause 7 - Developments in technology
Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Bill
11:45 am
Mrs Caroline Spelman (Meriden, Conservative)
I hear the hon. Lady saying that that is stupid. Perhaps she would like to tell me what she would regard as ``any developments in technology''. Does she have a better idea than I as to what is in the pipeline? Of course we do not know. That is a catch-all phrase that makes it singularly meaningless to debate it now, and it will never be debated again when it is brought into effect.
If technology moved on sufficiently to create the circumstances envisaged in the clause, there would undoubtedly have to be new general legislation to apply existing laws to the new methods of commerce, just as in the case of recent electronic commerce legislation. The provision would be far better placed in such legislation, where the focus of those making the legislative decisions would be on what capacity the new technology had to make an impact.
I argued strongly at the beginning of our debates that the section on internet service providers and their role in advertising ought to be part of a Bill that dealt properly with their role in advertising a range of products, outside of a health Bill and in a Bill under the Department of Trade and Industry—a Bill that dealt with new forms of competition by electronic means.
It is ambitious to have this catch-all phrase in a Bill to ban tobacco advertising. It is unnecessary to put a single provision into a specific Bill, since any change in technology would require general legislative change. Just as there may be developments in technology relating to transmission by electronic means, with regard to which the Secretary of State may consider it appropriate to amend provisions of the enacted Bill, there might also be developments with regard to tobacco products, which would similarly call for amendment. Tobacco producers may find a hitherto unthought-of form of tobacco that can be absorbed by osmosis or some other means. Who knows? We cannot legislate now for unknown technological change.
There may be some justification for including in the Bill tobacco products that may be developed at some time in the future and to which the health risks that result from smoking tobacco products do not apply. A new tobacco product may have an important public health dimension, which would correctly be dealt with under this Bill. If it is not possible to promote a new tobacco product to existing smokers, as would be the case under the Bill, manufacturers cannot be expected to invest in the funds necessary to diversify into products that might pose a lower health risk. The fact that such products have not been developed and have not appeared on the market to date does not mean that such developments are not possible. We all accept that scientific knowledge and capabilities advance rapidly. None of us can accurately predict in which direction it may flow. The legislative relevance of the clause is therefore difficulty to justify. I question its place in the Bill.