European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates

Details: Published: 04 February 2026

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January25 breaking news

ETHRA’s monthly roundup of news: EU Cardiovascular Health Plan - Tobacco Tax Directive - ETHRA Submission to CVD Plan - Youth Smoking Plummets in Finland - Norwegian Nicotine Cap Proposal - The future. Like it or loathe it? - Mysterious NGO is Smearing Ordinary People - 13th Annual E-Cigarette Summit videos - Country updates. Read on for more.

Contents:

EU Cardiovascular Health Plan
The much anticipated Cardiovascular Plan was published on 16 December. The plan identifies smoking as a major contributor to CVD but also makes baseless claims about safer nicotine products (gateway, elevated health risks to youth), which help people quit smoking and reduce the risk of CVD.

See the plan here:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/14755-EU-cardiovascular-health-plan_en

The European Parliament is currently working on its Cardiovascular disease strategy. ETHRA sent our submission to the Cardiovascular Health Plan call for evidence to members of the Public Health Committee (SANT) to keep them informed that the focus should be on the risks arising from smoking, and the potential positive role of nicotine-containing smoke-free alternatives to smoking

EU cardiovascular diseases strategy:
https://oeil.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/en/procedure-file?reference=2025/2132(INI)

See our submission here:
https://ethra.co/submissions/176-eu-cardiovascular-health-plan-call-for-evidence

Tobacco Tax Directive
Cyprus, who currently hold the EU Presidency, have proposed a compromise to the stalled Tobacco Tax Directive. Under the Cypriot proposal the rules would be simplified for e-liquid, higher strength liquids (>15mg/ml) would be taxed at the same rate as lower strength liquids, but rates remain the same for HTP’s and pouches. Taxation would, as always, progressively increase over time.

https://www.eureporter.co/politics/2026/01/22/cyprus-tobacco-tax-compromise-exposes-deep-rift-inside-eu-council/

PQ on smoke-free alternatives
Danish MEP Kristoffer Storm (ECR) asks the Commission if it accepts independent research which shows that smoke-free nicotine products are less harmful than combustible tobacco, and that they help people quit smoking.

See the question here:
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/questions/ecrites/2025/004350/P10_QE(2025)004350_EN.pdf

Answering on behalf of the Commission, Mr Várhelyi (Health Commissioner) continues with his misinformation that non-combustible nicotine products carry the same health risks as combustible tobacco.

See the answer here:
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-10-2025-004350-ASW_EN.pdf

COUNTRY UPDATES

Cyprus
Nicotine pouches remain in a regulatory grey area in Cyprus. Classified by the drugs council as pharmaceutical products, they require marketing authorisation to be sold legally, yet no such licence has been issued. This has led to a scenario where pouches are not subject to specific rules on strength, taxation or age restrictions.

Denmark
Doctors Philip Tønnesen and Ole Davidsen have called on the Danish Cancer Society to focus their efforts on eradicating combustible tobacco and not all nicotine products. The doctors correctly state that non-combustile nicotine products do not cause cancer and actually help people quit smoking.

Finland
Tobacco Statistics 2024 published by the National Institute for Health and Welfare finds that smoking among young people has fallen 60% in the past two years.

Germany
Germany is preparing to outlaw menthol and a long list of cooling additives used in e-cigarettes, in what could become one of the toughest vape flavour crackdowns in Europe.

Luxembourg
Updated tobacco control laws which came into effect on 1 January will treat heated tobacco products the same as combustible tobacco, particularly in relation to flavours. The new law will also impose a nicotine limit for pouches of 0.048 mg of nicotine per pouch (de facto prohibition), and restriction on the use of all nicotine products in some outside public spaces.

Norway
A new proposal by the Norwegian Government to cap nicotine content in snus to 12 mg of nicotine per gram of snus could see half of the snus products on the market become illegal.

Spain
The Spanish Society of Dual Pathology (SEPD) states that the use of electronic cigarettes increases the chances that people with tobacco use disorder and other mental disorders will quit smoking and reduce the risks of tobacco to their health.

UK
The latest data from the Health Survey for England 2024 supports the positive substitution effect of safer nicotine products. Adult smoking decreased from 13% in 2022 to 11%, while adult vaping increased by 1 percentage point to 10%. Never smokers who vape remain very low at just 4%.

Read the survey here:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/health-survey-for-england/2024/health-survey-for-england-2024-data-tables

MUST READS

The future. Like it or loathe it?
"The public’s health will prevail, even if Public Health tries to stop it. All the bogus science, misinformation, and ill-conceived regulations cannot stop the underlying economic forces"

How a mysterious NGO is smearing ordinary people
A little-known NGO called Impact Unfiltered claimed that many responses to an EU tobacco tax consultation were “fake” or manipulated by industry interests. However, an investigation by Peter Beckett and Hans Molenaar shows that the claims are not supported by any evidence.

Gateway myth debunked again (shocker!)
A fresh Nordic Council report has delivered compelling new population-level evidence showing that snus and nicotine pouches are not a gateway into smoking, they are a gateway out of smoking.

FINALLY

Something to watch:
All the videos from the 13th Annual E-Cigarette Summit UK held at the Royal College of Physicians on the 5th December, 2025 are now available to watch.

Details: Published: 03 December 2025

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November25 breaking news

ETHRA’s monthly roundup of news: Covert prohibition plan at COP11 - Tobacco Tax - COPWatch daily updates - "Ugly" COP11 Attacks THR - Youth smoking plummets in Denmark - The health effects of nicotine - Mapping Bloomberg's Billions - Where are All the Smokers from the Gateway? - Country updates. Read on for more.

European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates

ETHRA February news roundup

ETHRA December and January news roundup

ETHRA November news roundup

ETHRA October news roundup