Ireland's Vape Attack Raises Alarms
The WVA has raised the alarm regarding Ireland's turn on vaping, calling it a deviation from global best practices and a threat to public health
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by Dave Cross
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Michael Landl, the Director of the WVA, states, "Prohibition doesn't work. It never has, and it never will. A ban on disposable vapes will not eliminate the demand but shift it from regulated markets to the black market, creating negative, unintended public health consequences."
The ban on disposable vapes is counterproductive to harm reduction, says World Vapers’ Alliance.
"Disposable vapes can act as a crucial stepping stone for smokers looking to quit," continued Landl. "They offer an easy entry point, and many consumers eventually transition to open systems. Making that path from smoking to vaping as frictionless as possible is essential for public health. While cigarettes, known to be extremely harmful, remain readily available, banning a 95% less harmful alternative defies logic."
The WVA believes that vape flavours are widely used by adult vapers to move away from cigarettes, and research shows that their use can increase the odds of quitting by 230%. “Restricting flavours will just drive many vapers to the black market or back to smoking,” it says. “For example, Estonia banned flavours in 2020, but there is evidence that a majority of vapers kept using them, either by making their own liquids or by turning to the black market.”
Michael Landl, Director of the World Vapers’ Alliance, emphasised flavours' pivotal role in aiding smokers in their journey to quit: “Banning flavours would spell disaster for smokers who want to quit, current vapers, and public health. It's essential to offer a variety of flavours for smokers to successfully transition. Banning flavours would steer countless Irish consumers back to smoking. This would be an unnecessary roadblock on the way to a smoke-free Ireland.”
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has widely acknowledged vaping as a smoking cessation tool through its “Swap-to-Stop'' program, committed to further reducing smoking rates and embracing vaping as a harm reduction tool.
Landl concluded: "Countries with an open harm reduction approach, like Sweden, which recently reduced taxes on snus, and the UK have successfully reduced smoking rates with openness towards less harmful alternatives. Instead, Minister Donnelly is ignoring science and the experience of other countries. With these policies, he risks guiding Ireland further along the counterproductive path of prohibition, failing to effectively address the most harmful form of nicotine intake—smoking."
Photo Credit:
Photo by Click and Learn Photography 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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