More Senseless Vape Restrictions Crafted by the European Commission

The European Commission (EC) is recommending extending smoking bans to additional outdoor areas such as children’s play areas, outdoor pools, amusement parks, and terraces. Sadly this ban includes vaping, with the proposal aiming to update the current regulations from 2009, which primarily targeted traditional tobacco products. The EC is alleging that this measure is crucial for the protection of bystanders against second-hand emissions from heated tobacco products and vapes in indoor workplaces, public places, and transport, as well as in designated outdoor recreational areas where children are present.

The revised rules also aim to impose further restrictions on vaping products, both nicotine-contining and nicotine-free, with the aim of reducing their appeal and use among young people. And while the recommendations are non-binding, since EU health policies are the responsibility of individual countries, they highlight the EC’s insistence on fighting smoking in a non-productive manner.

The European Plan to Beat Cancer aims for a “Tobacco Free Generation” by 2040, targeting fewer than 5% of the population using tobacco, while currently 26% of EU residents and 29% of those aged 15-24 use tobacco. Meanwhile, the only country which is close to achieving this sought-after rate (at 6% and counting) is Sweden, where these impressive results where acheived by endorsing the use of safer alternatives such as snus and vapes for smoking cessation – the very same products that the EU is obsessed with banning.

The Commission emphasizes the harmful impact of tobacco, which leads to 700,000 deaths annually across the EU, including many due to second-hand smoke. It’s goal, it says, is to “denormalize” tobacco use, combat nicotine addiction, and improve preventive health measures. Spain, known for its outdated tobacco and vape laws, has recently announced a new anti-smoking plan for 2024-2027. Key measures include implementing plain packaging for cigarettes, raising cigarette prices, and expanding smoke-free areas. The plan also seeks to tighten vape regulations, with potential bans on single-use devices and flavoured vapes currently under discussion.Naturally, despite the fact that Spain’s tobacco control strategy has never actually yeilded any results, the EU fully supports because it is aligned with its own prohibition principle. In fact, a whopping 23% of Spain’s population aged 15 and older are smokers, in contrast with Sweden’s 6%.

As expected, tobacco harm reduction and smoking cessation experts are standing strongly against the EU Commission’s recommendation to include vaping in smoke-free environments. They have consistently highlighted that such measures, which would effectively treat vaping the same as smoking by banning it in places where smoking is prohibited, undermine the efforts of smokers who have switched to the safer alternatives.

The danger in regulating vaping as smoking

Similarly, argues the World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA), this approach sends a harmful message by wrongly equating vaping with smoking, misleading millions of smokers who rely on vaping to quit cigarettes. WVA Director Michael Landl, emphasized that the EC’s recommendation is a serious mistake, as it goes against the scientific evidence indicating that vaping is 95% less harmful and poses virtually no risk of secondhand exposure. Landl warned that such policies could deter smokers from switching to vaping, ultimately hindering public health efforts to reduce smoking-related harm.

Alberto Gómez Hernández, Policy Manager at WVA, echoed these concerns, stating that the Commission’s stance disregards scientific evidence and misleads consumers. He argued that allowing vaping in smoke-free areas would encourage more smokers to switch, potentially reducing smoking-related deaths across Europe. While by banning vaping in these areas, the Commission is discrediting a proven harm-reduction tool, jeopardizing public health.

Experts in the field are calling on EU policymakers to reconsider the recommendation, take in consideration real-world data and adopt a science-based approach that recognizes vaping as a less harmful alternative to smoking. Harm reduction should be prioritized over restrictive regulations based purely on principle.