Friday, March 29, 2024

Spain’s Health Ministry Launches Inaccurate Anti-Vaping Campaign

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Last August, Spain’s Ministries of Finance and Health started separately working on amendments for the Regulation of the Tobacco Market and Taxation Regulations, which had not been amended since 1998. The plan included tightening the tobacco regulatory framework, so as to be in line with WHO and EU TPD standards, in particular with regards to regulations concerning vaping products and other electronic devices.

Subsequently, a recent report by ECigIntelligence has pointed out that the draft on the amended Tobacco Act, including new provisions concerning e-cigarettes is now ready. Sadly, this seems to regulate the safer alternatives in the same way as the deadlier combustible tobacco products.

False claims against vaping

The anti-vaping campaign blames vaping for the EVALI outbreak and also claims that vapour is carcinogenic.

Moreover, the Health Ministry has even launched a anti-vaping  campaign that not only ignores all the scientific evidence in favour of vaping for smoking cessation and/or tobacco harm reduction, but also makes a number of false claims. Amongst other things, it blames vaping for the EVALI outbreak and says that vapour is carcinogenic.

“On November 18, the Spanish Ministry of Health launched a campaign to discredit the vapor sector, on the basis of widely scientifically denied reports (it blames EVALI among other things for the responsibility of electronic cigarettes, the fact that the vapor emitted is carcinogenic and that electronic smoking is not helpful in quitting smoking, and even claims that it is just as harmful as cigarettes),” said president of the Spanish Association of Vape Professionals, Massimiliano Belli, in an email to Vaping Post.

In contrast, several other countries in Europe have endorsed vaping products as smoking cessation tools, as data keep indicating that they are more effective than other NRTs in helping smokers quit. A recent study from Italy published in Addictive Behaviors, has confirmed the efficacy and safety of e-cigarettes in helping smokers reduce tobacco consumption and improving their pulmonary health.

Science has proven the effectivness of e-cigs as smoking cessation tools

In the UK, local health entity Public Health England, has advocated for the use of e-cigarettes as smoking cessation tools to the extent of including the products in its Stop Smoking Campaign: Stoptober. Moreover, there have been several trials on the effectiveness of supplying smoking patients, inmates and even homeless individuals, with vaping products in order to help them quit cigarettes.

With regards to the claim that vaping is what caused EVALI, it has long been confirmed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that the lung injury EVALI was caused by the consumption of illicit THC products, not nicotine vapes.

Rates of E-Cig and Marijuana Use Not Linked to EVALI Occurrence



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