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Health Bill

I offer limited support to the noble Earl for this amendment. As I mentioned at Second Reading, the definition of smoking is drawn so widely that it makes it virtually impossible for anyone who would like to use an alternative substance—for instance, during a performance or rehearsal of a play—to do so without being caught by the provisions of the Bill as currently drafted. I know that we shall come to an amendment later that the noble Earl has tabled and to which I added my name which seeks to provide exemptions for performance-related use of tobacco. Therefore, to some extent, my point is made redundant if that issue can be dealt with effectively. Nonetheless, since we have no evidence as yet that the smoking of alternative substances of the kind identified is as harmful—or harmful at all—as the smoking of tobacco, it seems unnecessary and counterproductive to sweep into the definition of smoking all of these other things and thereby create a difficulty for people who would like to give up smoking.