A new paper by the Institute of Economic Affairs has proposed the need for an “innovation principle” to guard against over precaution when faced with innovative new products entering a market.
To illustrate this, the paper discusses the varying regulatory treatment of reduced risk nicotine delivery products in different countries.
The paper suggests that this varying treatment has created a series of natural experiments by which to judge which regulatory approach – from the liberal on the one hand and the prohibitionist on the other – to determine which leads to the most beneficial outcomes.
The authors liken the less-than-perfect safety evidence of vaping products to the similar uncertainty surrounding Covid-19 vaccines. The study points out that governments have decided that vaccination can reduce harm from the disease even if the doses can cause side effects. It also points out that many who are fully vaccinated will still die, and even that a small number may die from administration of the vaccine itself. No country has banned Covid-19 vaccination because of these downsides because they understand that deaths will be far higher if vaccines were banned.
Martin Cullip – Townhall – 2022-05-13.
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