The EU will soon consider a proposal to ban flavours and vaping in public places, according to a leaked copy of the European Commission’s Beating Cancer Plan.
The document was leaked to the press ahead of the plan’s scheduled launch on February 3.
As well as the public vaping and flavour restrictions, the EC proposes to extend taxation to ‘novel tobacco products’ such as e-cigarettes.
World Vapers’ Alliance Director, Michael Landl , said:
“Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan is a historic chance to beat cancer and the Commission is about to botch it.
“Vaping is not the same as smoking and treating the two as the same is a mistake that could prevent thousands of smokers from quitting.”
Landl added that the leaked plan was ‘very concerning’ and said that he hopes the final version will ‘correct this flawed approach.’
Read More: Inquiry Finds 98 Percent Against Dutch Flavour Ban
The WVA head said that vaping policy should be lead by science rather than idology if Europe is to achieve it’s cancer-free goal: “I hope that what the Commission publishes on vaping will look different to what we see in this leaked document or the future for vaping in Europe looks pretty bleak.”
The European Beating Cancer plan aims to reduce the number of people dying from cancer each year.
It estimates that 3.5 million people in the EU are diagnosed every year, with 1.3 million dying from it.
The EC states that 40 percent of these deaths are preventable if current trends are reversed.
The World Vapers’ Alliance launched its ‘Back Vaping. Beat Cancer’ campaign in 2020.
The campaign encourages vapers to join together to pressure the EU Commission to recognise the benefits of vaping.
Header Image by Capri23auto from Pixabay
