Experts say that policies aimed at protecting the public against the negative effects of smoking have serious adverse effects, damaging public health.
Speaking at the World Nicotine Congress in Brussels on March 24, professor Douglas Ming Deng, of Yunnan University, highlighted that a lot of innovation in alternative smoking products, with far less adverse effects on health than traditional smoking, came from the US and China.
In the last decade, China made great gains, particularly on E-Vapors.
European countries, on the other hand, lagged far behind and had many fewer patents regarding healthier alternatives.
Jonathan Fell, Head of Research & Engagement at Hexis Capital Management, noted that this wasn’t without consequences.
He said that Europe had not enough innovation and this was in large part due to government regulation.
However, there was also an unwillingness at the private sector to work on this, with banks and companies having policies to exclude investment in tobacco and nicotine, and disinvest.
This means that Europe is lagging behind on the field of harm reduction for these products.
Paradoxically, so-called ethical investing causes more harmful products to remain dominant.
This while the industry itself is working to a smoke-free future, shifting from the highly harmful traditional cigarette to less damaging alternatives.
“Imagine the progress that could be made if investing in alternatives were as popular as in AI and transport, Fell said, “this would benefit public health”.
Instead, he noted, the EU is low on patents, low on innovation and creates no public health gains.
Speaking to Brussels Signal, Italian MEP Pietro Fiocci (ECR) Vice-Chair, Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety was critical of the European policies.
The EU wants to raise taxes across the board, including on less harmful alternatives.
Fiocci said he was “totally against” the European Commission’s intentions to add taxes across the board and raise taxes on pouches, snus, vapours and so on.
“The science tells us that the alternatives are less risky, especially for cardiovascular type of problems.
“In the name of risk reduction they should take a different approach between traditional smoking and alternative products.”
Fiocci said that simply taxing everything won’t solve the problems, on the contrary, “you are just going to have criminal organisations”.
He said it was a difficult situation in the EU institutions, but he expected that any agreement would have to pass by the European Council first, where nation states are still very much divided.
Fiocci said that most were willing to talk, however, a few remained very dogmatic.
Currently, negotiations on the revision of the Tobacco Taxation Directive (TTD) are in a critical and active phase within the Council of the European Union.
Because tax legislation requires unanimous agreement from all 27 Member States, progress is currently defined by intense “technical discussions” and compromise drafts aimed at balancing health goals with national fiscal sovereignty.
