While policymakers and international health officials gather in Dublin to shape the future of tobacco and nicotine regulation, one perspective remains glaringly absent: the voice of consumers.

The exclusion of those most affected at the Weltkonferenz zur Tabakkontrolle, namely adult smokers, vapers, and users of safer alternatives, is not just an oversight but a fundamental flaw in global tobacco control. Recent actions, including a light show and a silent protest, highlighted this injustice.

Yet the real problem persists: consumer voices are ignored while prohibitionist policies, often driven by powerful interests like Michael Bloomberg and the WHO, dominate the agenda.

This exclusion is especially dangerous as the world approaches a pivotal moment for tobacco policy. In November, governments will gather in Geneva for COP11 to negotiate the future of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). This process has long sidelined consumers and rejected harm reduction strategies.

At the same time, within the European Union, preparations are underway to revise the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), with the legislative process expected to unfold under the Irish Presidency of the Council beginning in July 2026. The long-delayed update to the Tobacco Excise Tax Directive (TED) is also back on the table. Together, these parallel developments will shape the future of nicotine policy in Europe and the world. This will test whether policymakers will support innovation and harm reduction or reinforce a prohibitionist path that risks undermining public health gains.

Clear evidence from the last decades in countries like Sweden, the UK, and New Zealand has shown that safer nicotine alternatives—such as vaping, nicotine pouches, and snus—are dramatically reducing smoking rates. More recently, national strategies in Greece and the Czech Republic have also shown how pragmatic harm reduction policies can deliver real public health gains.

Yet, the European Union appears increasingly aligned with the World Health Organization’s outdated and ideologically driven approach. According to a leaked document, the European Commission is considering a significant tax increase for all alternative nicotine products.

Other leaked drafts of Commission proposals suggest vaping flavour bans and restrictions on nicotine pouches. These are precisely the kinds of measures that have failed elsewhere. Rather than protecting public health, these measures risk protecting cigarette sales by removing access to less harmful options.

But this approach is not only misguided, it’s fundamentally anti-democratic. When the World Vapers’ Alliance delivered over 100.000 Unterschriften to the European Parliament urging the protection of harm reduction, it revealed a growing disconnect between EU policymakers and the citizens they serve. These weren’t corporate lobbyists—they were everyday Europeans who quit smoking thanks to alternatives like vaping and who now face the threat of losing those tools, and their own representatives completely ignored them.

Meanwhile, the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (heavily funded by Michael Bloomberg) continues to promote a one-size-fits-all, abstinence-only model. The result has been bans on safer products while combustible cigarettes remain widely available. In countries such as Mexico and India, a Bloomberg-backed vaping ban stripped smokers of viable alternatives. Will the EU replicate its mistake?

There is still time to change course. The EU can lead by example, championing evidence-based regulation that puts consumers at the heart of policymaking. Harm reduction is not a loophole: it is a life-saving strategy, as demonstrated by countries seeing historic declines in smoking-related diseases. The FCTC must acknowledge this, and the EU should push for its inclusion, not retreat behind ideology.

Policymakers must resist pressure from prohibitionist campaigners like Michael Bloomberg and instead embrace smarter regulation grounded in science and real-world outcomes. COP11 must not become another closed-door summit where consumer voices are excluded and outdated thinking prevails. Silencing those voices won’t make them disappear—it will only deepen mistrust and delay progress. The EU now faces a defining choice: ignore the people it represents or lead a new era of tobacco control that saves lives by empowering them.

Pictures of the WVA’s protest and light show in Dublin can be found Hier.

Ursprünglich veröffentlicht Hier