Den globale vaping-aktivistgruppe World Vapers' Alliance lancerer #BackVapingBeatSmoking-aktion i Warszawa for at tiltrække polske politikeres opmærksomhed.

WARSAW, POLAND, OCTOBER 13 — En global fortalergruppe for vaping, World Vapers' Alliance (WVA), lancerer #BackVapingBeatSmoking-kampagnen i Warszawa for at opfordre polske politikere til at omfavne skadesreduktion og vaping. Som en del af deres #BackVapingBeatSmoking I forbindelse med en kampagne overbragte WVA budskabet om, at vaping kan redde en million liv i Polen og 19 millioner liv i Europa, til repræsentanter for PIS, Platforma Obywatelska. 

WVA præsenterede deres “Direktivet om vapingprodukter”"for at vise, hvordan vaping skal behandles for at opfylde sit fulde potentiale for folkesundheden. Derudover afslørede WVA en kunstinstallation i form af den faldende domino, der er flyttet rundt i den polske hovedstad for at henlede opmærksomheden på vigtigheden af at reducere tobaksskader.

“"Kun i Polen kunne mere end en million rygere potentielt skifte til vaping, hvis regeringen omfavnede skadesreduktion. Det betyder, at en million liv kunne reddes fra tobaksrelaterede sygdomme, hvis politikerne stopper med at forbyde smagsstoffer, hæve afgifter og sænke nikotinniveauet i e-væsker. I Polen dør mere end 70.000 mennesker hvert år af tobaksrygning, og hvis politikerne ikke ændrer deres tilgang til skadesreduktion, vil dette tal fortsætte med at stige."” sagde Michael Landl, direktør for WVA.

The partner of the World Vapers’ Alliance is the Polish organization “Law for people” which addresses civil liberties issues and the dangers of over-regulating the market for goods and services. 

“We are joining forces with the World Vapers’ Alliance to demand changes from the Polish politicians as the situation around harm reduction becomes very disturbing for consumers, businesses and the civil society. The current government implemented recently increased taxes on e-liquids not realising the possible consequences for public health. We want a thorough analysis and broad public debate to precede legislative actions that interfere with the daily lives of Poles.” said Sara Lament-Hamodi, Coordinator of the Prawo dla ludzi campaign. 

The Polish installation comes as a part of the broader #BackVapingBeatSmokin campaign that the group launched last week in Strasbourg. WVA hosted a protest art installation with the message “Don’t Let 19 Million Lives Fall” in front of the European Parliament to draw attention of the EU policymakers to the Europe-wide need to embrace harm reduction.

In the following weeks, WVA will host similar installations in Czech Republic, Italy, Portugal, and Belgium. The group is also running a Europe-wide andragende asking the EU policymakers to acknowledge vaping as a tobacco harm reduction mechanism and refrain from overregulating the most successful smoking-cessation aid in the upcoming review of the EU tobacco regulation. The petition will be delivered to the European Parliament in Brussels in November. 

“Earlier this year, more than 24,000 EU citizens raised their voices in the Commission-run public consultation on tobacco legislation asking the regulators not to ban vaping. Public institutions must listen to the consumers. 5% of Polish adult populations are vapers, and it’s time their voices are heard!” tilføjede Landl.