Consumers have responded to the European Union’s SANT Committee Hearing that believes policy makers need to focus on harm due to cigarettes. These decision-makers are formulating policy on the back of “misinformation” and “innate prejudice towards harm reduction”, according to the World Vapers’ Alliance. The Alliance has also taken aim at The World Health Organization (WHO)’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as he denounced vaping and denied it works to reduce harm.

The SANT (Subcommittee on Public Health) held a hearing on “Preventing non-communicable diseases” to focus on possible solutions, on 1 June.

With nicotine consumption being one of the focus topics of the discussion, it becomes clear that there is still a lot of misinformation and innate prejudice towards harm reduction among the EU decision-makers, says Michael Landl, director of the World Vapers’ Alliance, an association that claims to amplify voices of vapers worldwide.

“Sebbene le malattie non trasmissibili, come le malattie cardiovascolari, le malattie polmonari croniche e il cancro, debbano essere il cardine dell'agenda di salute pubblica dell'UE, è altrettanto fondamentale perseguire approcci basati sull'evidenza e sulla scienza. Dobbiamo ridurre i danni reali e non combattere il consumo di nicotina in sé. La vera minaccia per la salute pubblica deriva dal fumo di sigaretta. Prodotti alternativi come lo snus, lo svapo e le bustine di nicotina stanno riducendo le malattie indotte dal fumo, perché aiutano efficacemente i fumatori a smettere. Combattere il consumo di nicotina invece dei danni reali avrà conseguenze molto più dannose.,” said Landl.

Among the addressed misconceptions about the role of harm reduction, stood out comments of MEP González Casares and MEP Trillet-Lenoir.

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