Germany’s War On Vaping Threat
Germany’s federal drug commissioner could be about to get tough on all things vape as the European war on vaping intensifies.
Daniela Ludwig is as fiercely anti-vaping as it gets, and as Germany takes up its six-month presidency of the EU, advocates are fearing the worst.
Ludwig is keen to see heavy taxes on vape products as well as ‘restricting’ flavours within Germany, and recently said:
We have the opportunity to talk to the countries about this.
I would have already prepared a catalogue for the e-cigarette.
For example, the rules on taxation or ingredients should be standardized.
I want people to get away from the cigarette, whether it’s a tobacco cigarette or some other product.
That ‘other product‘ is of course the e-cigarettes, and if the lady isn’t for turning – we could see the European vape industry decimated leaving vapers high and dry – literally.
The alarm call has come from the European Tobacco Harm Reduction Association – ETHRA – and they are calling on vapers in Germany, and indeed across the wider Europe, to get active before it’s too late.
ETHRA partner Hendrik Broxtermann from ExRaucher [IG], said:
It is disappointing that Ms Ludwig wishes to see failed policies from Germany transferred to the EU as a whole.
Regulation of vaping under the current EU Tobacco Products Directive is not perfect but may just be acceptable.
We should be seeking to improve the regulation we have by liberalising in some areas, not imposing more restrictions which can only protect the cigarette trade.
Taxation of vaping products will deter millions of smokers from trying out safer products; banning or restricting flavours will take away a major factor in the appeal of vaping as a substitute for tobacco smoking; and banning advertising will make vastly safer products invisible to the very people who need to see them in order to facilitate more uptake for the good of Europe’s health.
What Ms Ludwig should be doing is engaging with the people who use these products instead of pronouncing from an ideological position, while also ignoring her own scientific experts on the subject.
Couldn’t have put it better myself, though maybe I’d have said something along the lines of why the F**K don’t those politicians leave us the F**K alone…possibly