Greek and European e-cigarette advocates oppose the proposed ban on flavored vapes, warning that it will undermine the achievements of tobacco control and force adult smokers to return to cigarettes or the black market. They called on the government to formulate balanced policies based on scientific evidence, protecting teenagers and ensuring harm reduction options for adult users.
Consumer organizations and vape advocates from Greece and Europe, including Greek Vapers’ Alliance and the World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA). A warning has been issued against the policy proposed by the Ministry of Health to completely ban flavored e-cigarettes except for tobacco and menthol. They warned that the measure might reverse Greece’s hard-won achievements in reducing the smoking rate.
Flavoring ban threatens public health progress, warns Greek consumer group
Since Greece officially made “harm reduction” the core pillar of its tobacco control policy in 2019, the country has reversed the continuous rise in the smoking rate, which contrasts sharply with the stagnation in most parts of the European Union.
Michael Landl, the director of the World E-Cigarette Alliance, said:
- The ban on flavoring would be a major setback for public health and harm reduction. By supporting this ban, policymakers will push millions of adults back to smoking or lead them to the black market, thereby endangering lives and ignoring scientific evidence. Scientific research has repeatedly shown that flavored tobacco plays a key role in helping smokers quit smoking. The actions in support of the flavoring ban ignore these research results and the clear will of the public. This will do more harm than good.
Nikolas Christofidis, the director of the Greek e-cigarette Alliance, added:
- Banning flavored e-cigarettes is a shallow and dangerous decision. It did not truly target the root cause of minors’ use of e-cigarettes, but punished hundreds of thousands of adult smokers who successfully quit smoking due to taste. Such policies not only fail to promote harm reduction, but may instead lead them back to cigarettes or turn to the illegal market. We call on the Ministry of Health to immediately reconsider this practice and listen to the voices of consumers.
Advocates urge the Ministry of Health to communicate with consumers, experts and the scientific community to formulate regulatory policies that can protect teenagers without sacrificing the health and freedom of pre-adult smokers. Rather than bans, evidence-based policies are the correct path to promoting public health.
