Brussels, Belgium, 17.10.2023  — European members of the World Vapers’ Alliance urge the Belgian government to address harm reduction as their health priority in the upcoming Council presidency term which starts on 1 January 2024.

Earlier today, Politico published a working program of the Belgian presidency that addresses its five health priorities, including resiliency of health and health systems, health equality, and healthy population among others. “Tobacco harm reduction should be the cornerstone of the EU health priorities as smoking is still the number one preventable cause of deaths in the EU,” says Michael Landl, director of the World Vapers’ Alliance.

“There are over 1.3 billion people who are still smoking, with 88 million in the European Union alone. Sweden has become a harm reduction champion as it is moving towards a nation-wide risk-based policy with snus, a traditional smokeless tobacco product, lowering its tax by 20%. We are urging the Belgian government to follow the Swedish example and embrace harm reduction as a driving force toward a smoke-free Europe,” added Landl.

“The EU should make it easier for smokers to quit, not harder. Allowing for flavours and lowering tax on lower-risk products have proven to be the most effective way to encourage smoking-cessation, as in Sweden and the UK,” concluded Landl.

World Vapers’ Alliance has recently published a comprehensive fact sheet with the available research from the governmental, medical, and research institutions on vaping and tobacco harm reduction. The resource is available here.