WVA: Flavours Matter
The World Vapers’ Alliance has told Sweden and the Netherlands that flavours matter and vapers will be pushed back to smoking if they can’t access flavoured e-liquids
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by Dave Cross
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The WVA took to the streets of Stockholm with a simple message: Flavours Matter. A billboard bike with a message explaining that flavours help smokers quit made its way to the Parliament buildings in Stockholm. The WVA’s campaign aims to inform politicians that banning vaping flavours would deal a catastrophic blow to public health.
Director of the World Vapers’ Alliance, Michael Landl said: “In the fight against smoking, Sweden had previously shown they understood the concept of harm reduction - namely, less dangerous alternatives to smoking need to be allowed and promoted to get smoking rates to go down. However, we were stunned to learn about the plans to completely ban vaping flavours. Data shows that banning flavours could result in up to 150,000 Swedes turning back to smoking. Politicians are about to create a public health disaster.”
Other countries are also considering similar measures. Vapers everywhere are under immense pressure by politicians trying to restrict their access to less harmful alternatives.
Michael Landl added: “We are raising our voices because we risk losing decades of progress in smoking rate reductions. If vaping flavours are banned for adults, we might see a return of smoking rates like those decades ago.”
Swedish consumers can take action and contact their political representatives via the WVA action centres to share their vaping success stories: https://worldvapersalliance.com/mp-se/
The ‘Flavours Matter’ protests continued in The Hague on 24 March, where the Parliament was also debating a full flavour ban, despite widespread opposition from consumers. The WVA displayed its art installation with the message “Flavours Matter - Flavours help smokers quit” at the seat of the Dutch Parliament to raise awareness for the devastating effects of a flavour ban.
Michael Landl continued: “Last year, Dutch citizens rejected a flavour ban in a public consultation with a resounding 98% of respondents against it. Politicians have chosen to ignore their voices and now they’re at it again, risking the lives of up to 260,000 Dutch people, who could be pushed back to smoking in the absence of flavours.”
Dutch consumers can contact their political representatives via the WVA action centres to share their vaping success stories and convince them to stop the ban: https://worldvapersalliance.com/mp-nl/
“We’ve seen so much progress over the last decade, in terms of declining smoking rates in the Netherlands. Vaping flavours have been one of the most effective methods to quit smoking, with studies citing that those who vape flavoured e-cigarettes are 230% more likely to quit than those who don’t. But that route to smoking cessation may soon be banned if people do not speak up against this public health disaster in the making," Landl concluded.
The WVA will be travelling to countries around the world where flavours are at risk to showcase the benefits of vaping flavours and ensure that they remain a key component of quitting smoking.
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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