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In 2022, the Belgian Superior Health Council acknowledged in a report to the government that vaping is less harmful than smoking and recommended smokers switch to vaping. Now, European members of the World Vapers’ Alliance are urging the Belgian government to address harm reduction as their health priority in the upcoming Council presidency term due to a lack of progress.
Last week, Politico published a working program of the Belgian presidency that addressed its five health priorities, including resiliency of health and health systems, health equality, and healthy population among others.
Michael Landl, director of the World Vapers’ Alliance said: “Tobacco harm reduction should be the cornerstone of the EU health priorities as smoking is still the number one preventable cause of deaths in the EU.
“There are over 1.3 billion people who are still smoking, with 88 million in the European Union alone. Sweden has become a harm reduction champion as it is moving towards a nation-wide risk-based policy with snus, a traditional smokeless tobacco product, lowering its tax by 20%. We are urging the Belgian government to follow the Swedish example and embrace harm reduction as a driving force toward a smoke-free Europe.
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