Consumers have responded to the European Union’s SANT Committee Hearing that believes policy makers need to focus on harm due to cigarettes. These decision-makers are formulating policy on the back of “misinformation” and “innate prejudice towards harm reduction”, according to the World Vapers’ Alliance. The Alliance has also taken aim at The World Health Organization (WHO)’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as he denounced vaping and denied it works to reduce harm.

The SANT (Subcommittee on Public Health) held a hearing on “Preventing non-communicable diseases” to focus on possible solutions, on 1 June.

With nicotine consumption being one of the focus topics of the discussion, it becomes clear that there is still a lot of misinformation and innate prejudice towards harm reduction among the EU decision-makers, says Michael Landl, director of the World Vapers’ Alliance, an association that claims to amplify voices of vapers worldwide.

“Selvom ikke-smitsomme sygdomme, såsom hjerte-kar-sygdomme, kroniske lungesygdomme og kræft, bør være hjørnestenen i EU's folkesundhedsdagsorden, er det også afgørende at forfølge evidensbaserede og videnskabsbaserede tilgange. Vi er nødt til at reducere de faktiske skader og ikke bekæmpe nikotinforbruget i sig selv. Den virkelige folkesundhedstrussel kommer fra cigaretrygning. Alternative produkter såsom snus, vaping og nikotinposer reducerer rygerelaterede sygdomme, fordi de effektivt hjælper rygere med at holde op. At bekæmpe nikotinforbrug i stedet for de faktiske skader vil have langt mere skadelige konsekvenser.,” said Landl.

Among the addressed misconceptions about the role of harm reduction, stood out comments of MEP González Casares and MEP Trillet-Lenoir.

Læs hele teksten her