The electronic cigarette is a solution wanted by the consumer and that does not cost anything to the public authorities. Legislators should encourage it as a way to stop smoking instead of fighting it.
This week, the leading British organization in the fight against tobacco, Action on Smoking and Health, published its annual report on the habits of vapers. In Britain, as in North America and Europe in general, the number of users of electronic cigarettes a product that provides nicotine to smokers without the harms of tobacco - continues to grow strongly.
What should be remembered from the ASH report is that nearly 50% of vapers define themselves as “ex-smokers”. Two years ago, only a third of them considered themselves as such. This means that more and more electronic cigarette users are completely quitting tobacco; a result that should surely delight the international public health community.
In fact, if we take into account the growing consensus among the community of public health experts that vaping is 95% less harmful than tobacco, this observation of the abandonment by vapers of a life of Tobacco addiction should be great news everywhere, and for everyone.
Moreover, one would logically think that governments and public health organizations around the world should support e-cigarettes and actively encourage the billion current smokers to adopt it as soon as possible. In many other health sectors, when an opportunity arises to reduce risk on a large scale, it is embraced with open arms and funds are quickly released to promote it widely.
The interesting thing about vaping is that, unlike the expensive campaigns run by public authorities to encourage us to adopt an attitude aimed at preserving our health (despite a context of economic crisis), e-cigarettes have not absolutely nothing has cost governments so far.
Thus vaping could potentially become a major tool for an approach to controlling tobacco consumption worldwide. And this now, without interference and at zero cost.
Which government or public tobacco control agency would not be pleased to seize such an opportunity ?
In fact, there are very few: On both sides of the Atlantic, in the United States and in Europe, governments do not seem to want to accept that the solution to one of the world's health challenges more serious can be right in front of their eyes.
The new European directive on tobacco products will take effect on May 20, 2016 and will have repercussions on the entire vaping sector and, consequently, on the health of the entire continent. You might be wondering why a product that doesn't even contain tobacco is subject to a tobacco directive, but that is another story, and in accordance with EU custom, this directive is a compromise. On the one hand, it sets limits on the safety and composition of these products and prohibits their sale to minors. These elements are pragmatic and laudable: Product reliability and safety will only increase consumer confidence in the long run. On the other hand, the directive drastically limits advertising and shows that only two vapers in 1000 are people who have never smoked tobacco before. These results are confirmed by many other studies. Vaping is by no means attractive to non-smokers. However, since Thursday, advertising for vaping has been banned on television and in newspapers.
It seems very strange to limit the promotion of a product whose consumption, based on a lot of scientific evidence, should be encouraged. But these measures are not as senseless as the action decided by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States, which last week announced its new regulations: a series of provisions that are likely to have much more devastating effects on the protection of public health.
This regulation is deceptively subtle. Manufacturers can advertise and create any flavor they want for their products, says the FDA, as long as they get pre-market approval for each one. Asking for this agreement may seem like a perfectly reasonable step on paper. But the FDA isn't trying to make it particularly simple. Each vaping product will have to go through a long and expensive research process individually. This process will effectively exclude most products from the market because it requires scientific information, which one expert says is literally impossible to obtain.
What can we conclude ?
The consequences of these regulations in Europe and the United States is worse than missing a penalty in the absence of the goal is to put the ball off the field. Rather than promoting the development of this product category, governments are creating barriers. Instead of saying, " it's great, let's work together Governments react with fear and distrust. Instead of sending positive signals to vapers, most of whom want more than anything to stop or significantly reduce their cigarette consumption - governments on both sides of the Atlantic continue to blur them with contradictory messages that imply, by default, that tobacco might be preferable.
The reality is that vaping is a revolution, initiated by the private sector and which has so far helped millions of people. And it is surely because she did not come from the public health community that she raises such skepticism. But in view of the glaring evidence, we should require elected officials and public health organizations to base their analyzes on the positive effects now demonstrated. We believe that vaping can help millions of people who have not yet given up smoking for electronic cigarettes. We need the support of public health organizations and we need to work together to achieve this.
Source : euractiv.fr
