More than 7 million lives at risk if MEPs regulate E-cigarettes out of existence, campaign warns

Over the next few days, MEPs face a stark choice, according to the Save E-cigs Campaign ; to once again support big tobacco, an industry that kills 700,000 people across the EU every year, or to support e-cigarettes, a market-based, consumer-led public health revolution that has the potential to save millions of lives. 

As MEPs prepare to vote on this important issue, several thousand former cigarette smokers from across the EU, their friends, and their families have signed an open letter to MEPs that states: “E-cigarettes for us have been a revelation.  Since our friends and family members made the switch to e-cigarettes, it is now a pleasure to be around them.  They are healthier, happier people, and we do not have to suffer indirectly as a result of them smoking.”

The letter, which has been organised by the Save E-cigs Campaign, an EU-wide campaign aiming to provide a united voice for e-cigarette users, their friends and their families, asks MEP’s not to regulate e-cigarettes as medicinal products.

The letter will be delivered to MEPs on Tuesday.

Throughout the EU, e-cigarettes provide a viable alternative to smoking cigarettes.  They have enabled millions of people to leave smoking behind, either on a full or part-time basis.  But what is often forgotten in this debate are the friends and family of smokers, who also benefit when a smoker switches to e-cigarettes.  They are no longer putting their own health at risk through passive smoking and most importantly, they no longer have to worry about their friend or family member dying prematurely.

On 10 September^, MEPs will vote on revisions to the Tobacco Products Directive.  They will be faced with the choice, to support or reject the medicinal regulation of e-cigarettes.  Medicinal regulation will impose limitations on e-cigarettes, making them less attractive to cigarettes, and will limit their availability, raise costs, and reduce innovation. The European Parliament’s own Legal Affairs committee stated that this would effectively ban e-cigarettes.  Those who currently use e-cigarettes would be left with no option but to go back to smoking cigarettes and those still smoking would be denied the opportunity to switch.

Prior to the handover of their letter, the Save E-cigs Campaign will hold a press conference at which a number of leading European public health professionals will speak out against the medicinal regulation of e-cigarettes.  The Campaign will also be making a major announcement at the press conference that will have significant ramifications on the voting intentions of MEPs on10 September .

David Dorn, an e-cigarette user, said: “The law of unintended consequence in this situation, if MEPs vote for medicinal regulation, will be e-cigarette users going back to smoking tobacco cigarettes and consequently dying prematurely as a direct result.  MEPs might not like to hear this, but it is the truth, and MEPs need to be aware of this.  If MEPs vote for medicinal regulation more people will smoke and we will all be forced back to a nightmare we thought we had left behind.

"We do not understand why MEPs would want to intervene to prevent or obstruct a smoker having access to products that could potentially save their life. But politicians should know that, together with the millions of other e-cigarette users and their families, we will hold them accountable for their actions in next year’s European elections.

"I hope that MEPs will vote next week to either remove e-cigarettes completely from the Tobacco Products Directive or that they will ask the Commission to go away and do a lot more research, fund some unbiased studies and come back in two or three years and report on the situation at that time.  MEPs will then have a lot more information at their fingertips to make a decision that is not going to result in 700,000 lives per year being terminated early because they voted to effectively ban e-cigs as they currently are from the market in Europe.  This campaign wishes to see e-cigarettes robustly regulated as a consumer product and freely available to those who want to switch, not just for the sake of smokers, but for all our sakes!”

Sue Sutton, 37, mother of three and wife of Andrew Sutton – e-cigarette user - said: “My husband, Andrew, first started using e-cigs four years ago.  As someone who has never smoked, it worried me that he had increased the amount of cigarettes he was using.  What started out as a 'social' habit was now becoming more habitual.  Expressing my concerns for his health and for the kids, he began looking into other alternatives.  He was keen to stop using cigarettes and the e-cigarettes, seemed the best alternative.  At the time they were easily more accessible and cheaper than the quit aids.  Aside from the occasional smell, from the flavour of vapour, the e-cigs are barely noticeable in our home.  He no longer has 'smokers' cough and the house does not have any smell that would be associated with cigarettes.

"This campaign is important as medicinal regulation of e-cigs will deny smokers the opportunity to switch to a healthier alternative.  How can they continue to allow tobacco cigarettes to be sold freely and at the same time ban e-cigarettes that will help everyone?  MEPs need to acknowledge that e-cigs are a consumer product and regulate them as such – proper labelling, product testing, and age restrictions on sales.”

For more information about the Save E-cigs Campaign, click here. 

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