25.08.2022 – Brussels, BE – Yesterday, the EU Commission meddelade the registration of a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) entitled ‘Call to achieve a tobacco-free environment and the first European tobacco-free generation by 2030’.

Arrangörerna, en spansk folkhälsoorganisation som heter NoFumadores, föreslår att förbjuda försäljning av tobaks- och nikotinprodukter till alla medborgare födda efter 2010.

Michael Landl, chef för World Vapers' Alliance, sa:

“Det här initiativet visar den utbredda felaktiga informationen om olika nikotinprodukter. Vi kan inte ha en universallösning för väldigt olika produkter. Nästan all skada från rökning kommer från de tusentals andra kemikalierna i tobaksrök, inte från nikotin. Alternativ som vaping är i hög grad mindre skadligt och är bevisade effektiva metoder för att sluta röka. Förbudet kommer inte att göra något annat än att kosta liv.”

Dessutom ifrågasätter World Vapers' Alliance det praktiska i ett försäljningsförbud kopplat till medborgarnas födelseår:

“How should this work in practice? In a few years, shops would have to check the IDs of 50-year-olds. This will not work. Those rules will be ignored, or they will generate a massive black market. Both outcomes are detrimental to public health. Aside from impracticality, generational bans may be illegal in Europe as they stand against an equal and fair treatment of EU citizens – a pillar of the Lisbon Treaty. Moreover, it is morally wrong to deny harm reduction to younger generations. Instead of stigmatising smokers, we need to give them all opportunities to quit smoking once and for all,” added Landl.

The organisers now have six months to collect one million signatures from at least seven different Member States to force the EU Commission to react to the proposal. The registration of the ECI is not an endorsement by the Commission. Still, with the Tobacco Products Directive on the horizon, vapers are calling on the Commission to follow a risk-based approach for each product.

“The registration of this initiative shows that the pressure from anti-harm reduction groups on EU institutions is increasing. This is not a good sign regarding the upcoming Tobacco Products Directive update. Future regulation must be based on science and the experience of millions of consumers. Less harmful products must be treated differently than cigarettes. Prohibition never worked and will never work. It just creates massive unintended consequences and harms public health. The exact opposite of what we all want,” added Michael Landl.