Protest & Survive
Demonstrations will be taking place across Europe on Friday 29th May, including two in London and Swansea.
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by Dave Cross
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Austrians, Germans and the French have seen how interpretations of the Tobacco Products Directive have impacted on vapers in Norway, Italy and Portugal. While “Italy's Constitutional Court ruled on Friday 15th that a 'super tax' on electronic cigarettes is unconstitutional”, it doesn’t detract from the fact that the vaping industry there has been all but destroyed and driven vapers back to smoking.
We reported on Totally Wicked’s legal fight against Article 20 in February but many would argue that relying alone on their success places vaping on a precarious knife edge. Consequently, we welcome and wholly support the pan-European demonstrations taking place on Friday 29th May.
Totally Wicked contend that the implications of Article 20 are:
- Less innovation
- Fewer suppliers
- A reduced product range
- Increased prices
- Less availability
- Vapers will return to smoking
- Smokers will not switch to a healthier alternative
Mark Magenis, organiser of the London demonstration, said: “May the 29th is a big day for Vaping, protests have been organised throughout Europe. Here in the UK we have protests organised both in Swansea and London.”
“The timing, politically, is in our favour. With our newly elected government looking to renegotiate the relationship with Brussels, there has never been a better time to highlight our issues with the TPD,” Mark continued. “Lets give Cameron what he is looking for, a good cause to get behind and say NO to the EU. We need to let them know that vapers are voters.”
Demonstation Schedule
29th May 2015 @ 2pm - Parliment Square, Westminister, London
29th May 2015 @ 2pm - Castle Square, Swansea
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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