ETHRA to Belgium
European end user campaign body ETHRA (European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates) have sent a letter to the Belgian government stressing the vital role vapes can play
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by Dave Cross
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ETHRA told the Belgian administration that safer nicotine products should play a much bigger role for a smokefree generation.
It wrote: “We write as the European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (ETHRA) and 19 co-signed independent experts in tobacco and nicotine science and policy. The signatories to this letter report no conflicts of interest with respect to the tobacco or vaping industries.
European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates is the voice of 27 million EU consumers of safer nicotine products.
“ETHRA is a consortium of 25 grassroots consumer associations in 17 European countries, supported by experts in tobacco control and nicotine research. We are mostly ex-smokers who have used safer nicotine products, such as vapes, nicotine pouches, heated tobacco products, and snus, to quit smoking and to remain smoke free. ETHRA is a voluntary operation with no industry funding or conflicts of interest.”
ETHRA noted that the government already recognises Professor Michael Russell’s perspective on reducing harm and the benefits that such products can delivery to a smoking nation.
“Despite all the government’s smoking prevention and awareness campaigns,” ETHRA adds, “Sciensano reports that in 2018, 1 in 5 Belgians still smoke. According to the Foundation against Cancer, 14000 Belgians die every year from smoking related diseases. It is necessary and urgent to provide these smokers with a route out of smoking.
Over the last decade, innovations in battery technology and in the tobacco and nicotine marketplace has meant there are now many nicotine products available that do not involve combustion of the tobacco leaf and inhalation of smoke. These include vaping products, nicotine pouches, heated tobacco products, and low-nitrosamine smokeless tobacco, such as snus.”
Signatories to the letter include many well-known experts in the field of tobacco harm reduction and vape research:
- Frank Baeyens, PhD
- Scott D. Ballin, JD
- Clive D. Bates, MA, MSc
- Karolien Adriaens, PhD
- Lynne Dawkins, PhD
- Carmen Escrig, PhD
- Karl Fagerström, PhD
- Konstantinos Farsalinos, MD, MPH
- Professor Peter Hajek
- Jacques Le Houezec, PhD
- Martin J Jarvis, DSc OBE
- Karl E Lund, PhD
- Garrett McGovern, MD
- Raymond Niaura, PhD
- Professor Andrzej Sobczak, PhD
- David T. Sweanor J.D.
- Damian Sweeney
- Diego Verrastro MD
The group delivered a set of recommendations and concluded: “These points will help in creating a coherent risk-based framework for all nicotine products. We do hope this input will inspire the government’s Inter-federal Strategy for a smokefree generation as this strategy will be crucial to decreasing death and disease from smoking. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss these ideas with you and provide more information.”
References:
- The letter - https://ethra.co/images/ETHRA_letter_to_the_Belgian_Government_Final.pdf
- European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates - https://ethra.co/
Photo Credit:
Letter photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash
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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