European Experts Agree E-Cigs Should be Regulated as Harm Reduction Tools

The research team gathered the views of international tobacco control and smoking cessation experts via a number of surveys carried out between December 2018 and March 2020. They surveyed a total of 268 people from 15 countries, with relevant clinical, public health or research expertise. The questions included statements or recommendations about e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, focused on four categories—regulation, sale, use and general issues.

The researchers gathered responses from 92 participants in the first round of the survey and 55 in the second round. Replies about e-cigarettes indicated a general agreement that the components of e-liquids should be labelled clearly in the products, stating a defined agreed upon nicotine limit. Moreover the products should carry a warning on the lack of evidence about long term safety and potential addiction of the products.

The experts also tended to agree that vaping products should not be regulated as consumer products but either as a new category of nicotine delivery. They added that the devices and their components should not be available for sale in general stores but either in specialized shops, tobacco stores or in pharmacies with clear restrictions for minors.

Given that heated tobacco products contain tobacco and they may have the same addictive potential as regular cigarettes, the experts agreed that these should be regulated as tobacco products.

Medical Xpress reported that the experts also put forward the following recommendations:

• “use of both e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products should not be allowed in indoor public places
• implementation of a specific tax for e-cigarettes
• taxes on heated tobacco products should not be lower than those for conventional cigarettes”

Vapes considered safer than heated tobacco products

In line with findings from a number of studies, the experts tended to consider e-cigarettes as less dangerous and addictive than heated tobacco products. “Experts in tobacco control and/or smoking cessation recommend differential regulation for electronic nicotine delivery systems and heated tobacco products. The results of this survey may be useful for health authorities, decision makers and researchers of the tobacco use and cessation field,” said the study authors.

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