- The “informal" working group aims to "prepare the revision of the TPD". There will be no official or public documents relating to the group’s work.
- The group is led by controversial MEP Rivasi. Rivasi attempted to give anti-vaxxer Andrew Wakefield a platform as recently as 2017.
- Rivasi calls for "stricter supervision of e-cigarettes” after what she calls “the notice of harmfulness issued by the World Health Organization in July 2020".
- It is unclear which WHO “notice” Rivasi is referring to, but it is clearly not the WHO Europe report released in May, which is broadly supportive of tobacco harm reduction.
Read more: Anti vaping MEP Michèle Rivasi heads “informal” TPD working group
Please do the EU Nicotine Users Survey [ LINK ] and help to spread it far and wide, by sharing it on social media
Read more: ETHRA launches major survey on nicotine use in Europe
ETHRA partner the New Nicotine Alliance Ireland issued a press release yesterday in response to the Irish Heart Foundation’s (IHF) call for the introduction of a tax on e-liquid. We repost the press release below, with this introduction from NNA Ireland:
The rallying call to impose a tax on harm reductio
n products was made in the IHF pre-budget submission to the government, which was then circulated to newspapers on Monday in a press release. Protection of youth, which has become a mantra for those opposed to tobacco harm reduction, was yet again cited as the rationale. Ironically, repeated suggestions from NNA IE and vendors to introduce U18 legislation that would make it illegal to sell vapour products to under 18’s have been ignored.
Instead of a common sense approach that would directly address their concerns regarding youth, the plan from the IHF seems to be to punish adult vapers who have made the decision to greatly improve their health by switching from smoking to vaping, by adding extra expense to the products they depend on to remain smokefree. Vaping products are used by +200000 people in Ireland and have led to historically low levels of smoking.
Photo by Sagar Patil on Unsplash
It was just a year ago when we launched European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates yet we have achieved much in that time.
ETHRA is powered by 22 European consumer groups, all dedicated to defending the rights for adults to use safer nicotine products, all signed up to ETHRA’s core principles. Working as a consortium of equal partners, we pool our expertise, our dedication, and our passion, and it has led to spectacular results. Our grouping is a voice for our partners who arrange their own revenue and who give their time to ETHRA for free, as we run it collectively and without funding.
Together we have aimed to amplify the Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) consumer voice in Europe and highlight our commonalities while still celebrating our differences. We are very honoured to be supported in this endeavour by our Scientific Partners, all experts in the tobacco harm reduction field.
Our first year has exceeded our expectations.