Members of the European Parliament, together with consumer activists, call for a more open approach towards harm reduction in the EU. World No Tobacco Day on May 31 is a reminder that traditional anti-smoking policies are not working anymore. Eight million deaths worldwide due to smoking should be reason enough to rethink traditional approaches and learn from countries that successfully reduced smoking rates, like Sweden.

Michael Landl, Director of the World Vapers’ Alliance, said today in the course of World Vape Day:

“World No Tobacco Day is a sad reminder that a new approach in the fight against smoking is needed. Instead of fighting less harmful alternatives like vaping, the EU and WHO must start accepting reality: harm reduction works! Sweden is becoming the first smoke-free country this year due to a consumer-friendly harm reduction approach. It is high time to learn from the Swedish experience and thereby save millions of lives. With a smart harm reduction approach, we can reach a smoke-free Europe way sooner than the target.”

Sweden is about to become the first country in the world to achieve a daily smoking rate below 5%, a benchmark to qualify it as a smoke-free country, 17 years ahead of the EU’s target while almost all other countries are failing.

MEP Charlie Weimers comments: “Policy should be evidence based. WHO will soon classify Sweden as Europe’s first smoke-free country because of harm reduction policies and wide spread use of snus.”

To reinforce the impact of the Swedish model, MEP Johann Nissinen said: “It is clear that smoking kills, and we need to do everything we can to prevent those unnecessary deaths. Sweden is the best example of how this is achievable, namely with a pragmatic harm reduction approach. It is the only country in the EU where snus is legal and popular with 18% of the population using it. Consuming snus instead of cigarettes saved many Swedish lives. It is time that the EU Commission expects this reality and starts acting accordingly.”

Carissa Düring, a spokesperson for a non-profit consumer organisation, Considerate Pouchers, added: “It has always surprised me why not more countries allow a product like snus that has helped millions quit smoking and has been safely used for more than 200 years in Sweden. Sweden is a natural experiment that shows that harm reduction works. The low smoking rates speak for themselves.”

The World Vapers’ Alliance has released a guide to the Swedish smoke-free model. Learn more aquí.