A report by the British organisation Public Health England (PHE) convinced European lawmakers that vapes and other alternative nicotine delivery systems (ANDS) could reduce smokers' risk of developing cancer. This precedent could influence the development of the e-cigarette market and the recognition of e-cigarettes as an effective way to quit smoking.
Vaping has been officially recognised for the first time as an effective means of tackling tobacco dependence and its consequences: the European Parliament became the world's first elected chamber to endorse tobacco harm reduction through e-cigarettes.
By 651 votes to 15, lawmakers adopted a new report on cancer prevention and treatment from the British health organisation Public Health England (PHE), citing evidence that “electronic cigarettes could allow some smokers to progressively quit smoking”.
The report also states that e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful to human health than e-cigarettes [sic in the source]: according to the British researchers, using ANDS reduces the risk of developing cancer by 99.6%.
Why this matters
The European Parliament's response to the PHE report sets an exceptional precedent that could radically change the e-cigarette market in Europe and worldwide. Many countries are working to restrict ANDS, even though researchers have been highlighting vaping's potential to tackle tobacco dependence and its consequences for years.
Users of e-cigarettes and ANDS are also making their voices heard:
- In the Netherlands, protests are taking place against bans on vape flavourings;
- In Malaysia, e-cigarette users consider a vaping ban a violation of human rights;
- In India, following an official ban on vaping, surveys found that 86% of respondents supported bringing back e-cigarettes as a safer alternative to smoking.
According to IEVA President Dustin Dahlmann, acknowledging the PHE researchers' findings could influence both the international e-cigarette market and the broader culture of nicotine consumption:
This is a landmark statement by the European Parliament. It should go a long way towards reassuring smokers about the health benefits of switching to vaping. We now call on other EU institutions — particularly the European Commission — to take this on board and ensure that policy follows science, rather than the other way around.
The denial stage
This is not the first time authorities and health organisations have been accused of ignoring scientific and medical research into the effects of tobacco products on consumers' health.
In 2020, the World Vapers' Alliance held a demonstration calling for official recognition of vaping's role in preventing cancer. The event took place on the day the European Parliament's Special Committee on Beating Cancer met.
According to the alliance's director, Michael Landl, the demonstrators hoped to persuade lawmakers that Europe's cancer strategy must include evidence of the role e-cigarettes and ANDS play in tackling tobacco dependence.
More than 700,000 people in Europe die from the consequences of tobacco smoking. Meanwhile, we see vaping helping to prevent serious illnesses and overcome tobacco dependence. Europe's new cancer strategy must take this into account, helping smokers switch to a safer alternative and reducing disease rates.
Dr Lars M. Ramström, a leading expert at Sweden's Institute for Tobacco Studies (ITS), made a similar point. At the Global Forum on Nicotine 2022 (GFN), he presented 2021 data indicating that measures proposed by the World Health Organization under its MPOWER strategy — an initiative intended to reduce tobacco consumption among active smokers worldwide — were insufficiently effective. In his presentation, Dr Ramström also discussed a series of studies suggesting that switching from smoking to alternative nicotine delivery systems (ANDS) was a more effective tobacco harm-reduction strategy in Europe and Canada.
So what is the problem?
Despite calls from the public and researchers studying vaping's health effects, officials and representatives of international organisations have been slow to support vapes and ANDS as alternatives to conventional smoking.
For example, participants in the European Parliament's Special Committee on Beating Cancer in 2020 were divided. Italian lawmaker Pietro Fiocchi supported easing restrictions on vaping, citing recent research, while Croatia's Tomislav Sokol questioned exactly how harm reduction could lower cancer incidence. Germany's Peter Liese took a neutral position, noting that the potential of vapes and ANDS should not be ignored.
Talking about quitting is easier than quitting. People who are already dependent on tobacco really do struggle to stop smoking, so we should be less categorical about e-cigarettes. At the very least, we should make sure they are available to users.
Clearly, Europe still has no consensus on the effectiveness of e-cigarettes as a less harmful alternative to smoking. The debates, however, are taking place openly. The situation with international organisations is more complicated: despite Lars M. Ramström's conclusions at the Global Forum on Nicotine 2022 (GFN) that the WHO's tobacco-dependence strategy had proved ineffective, the organisation's representatives have not yet publicly commented on them.
This may mean that international recognition of vapes and ANDS as an effective way to combat smoking is unlikely to come soon. Yet the fact that European Parliament members have changed their position could change everything.
