18.12.25 – Brussels. The World Vapers Alliance (WVA) strongly criticises EU Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi for claiming in an interview with Euractiv that vaping, nicotine pouches, and heated tobacco are “100 percent” as harmful as cigarettes. The statement contradicts decades of evidence and risks scaring millions of smokers away from switching to less harmful alternatives.

World Vapers Alliance Director Michael Landl said Várhelyi’s comments are not just wrong, they are dangerous.

“By telling people that vaping and nicotine pouches are as harmful as cigarettes, the Commissioner is effectively running a marketing campaign for smoking. Smokers who might have switched will stay with cigarettes, and more people will die. This is the opposite of what a Health Commissioner should do.”

Independent studies and reviews commissioned by governments and public health bodies worldwide consistently find that those products are far less harmful than smoking. They also show that those products help people stop smoking and that smokers who switch completely can significantly reduce their risk of smoking-related disease. Várhelyi’s claim erases this evidence and misleads the public about real-world risks.

Despite the EU’s official goal of a smoke-free generation with less than 5 percent smoking by 2040, the bloc is far off track. The recent Eurobarometer survey shows that at the current pace, the EU will only reach this target around 2100. Experts and consumer groups have warned that the EU’s refusal to embrace less harmful alternatives is a key reason why progress is so slow.

The World Vapers Alliance calls on Commissioner Várhelyi to correct his statements, meet with independent scientists and consumer representatives and commit to evidence-based communication on nicotine. The EU cannot credibly fight smoking while its own Health Commissioner spreads misinformation that keeps smokers on the most dangerous product of all, cigarettes.