{"id":34892,"date":"2026-03-05T10:17:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T10:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/?p=34892"},"modified":"2026-03-05T10:17:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T10:17:43","slug":"23-experts-write-to-eu-warning-over-vaping-risk-misinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/post\/23-experts-write-to-eu-warning-over-vaping-risk-misinformation\/","title":{"rendered":"23 experts write to EU warning over vaping risk misinformation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

A group of 23 European experts in tobacco and nicotine science have written to the President of the European Commission, warning that recent statements on vaping and other smoke-free products are \u201cfalse and misleading\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an eight-page letter<\/a> sent on 25 February, the signatories say they are \u201cdeeply concerned by recent claims made by Commissioner V\u00e1rhelyi that the use of smoke-free products has comparable risks to smoking cigarettes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They write: \u201cThere is no scientific basis for this claim, and a strong scientific basis to assess smoke-free tobacco and nicotine products as posing only a small fraction of the risk of cigarettes\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comments by EU Commissioner<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The letter centres on comments made by Health Commissioner Oliv\u00e9r V\u00e1rhelyi<\/a> in an interview with Euractiv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked whether alternative tobacco products are as harmful as traditional cigarettes, the Commissioner replied: \u201cYes, I am. Absolutely. One hundred per cent.\u201d Pressed further, he added: \u201cAs harmful. I know they do not like this, but I am absolutely sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experts describe these remarks as part of \u201ca pattern of misinformation and false statements from the Commissioner\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also cite previous comments, including a statement to the European Parliament\u2019s ENVI Committee in May 2025 that \u201cvaping.. has created completely new health risks [that are] comparable to or even bigger than smoking itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cIt\u2019s enough to read some articles about the \u2018popcorn lungs\u2019 which is a completely new phenomenon, and which is breathtakingly overtaking the young generation\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In their response, the signatories state: \u201cThe risks are not comparable, and there are no known cases of popcorn lung (bronchiolitis obliterans) caused by vaping.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They further criticise a January 2026 Commission answer to a parliamentary question, which asserted: \u201cUsing smoke-free tobacco and nicotine products, as opposed to combustible smoking, is not reducing risk to health\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experts argue this position is based on a logical error, adding: \u201cThere is an important difference between safe and safer: smoke-free products do not have to be \u2018safe\u2019 to be far \u2018safer\u2019 than cigarettes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFar less harmful than cigarettes\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The letter sets out what the authors describe as the scientific consensus on relative risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThere is no serious dispute that vaping, pouches, and other forms of non-combustible tobacco and nicotine products are far less harmful than smoking,\u201d they write.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

They point to the key distinction between combustible and non-combustible products, saying: \u201cThe key difference between combustible and non-combustible products is the formation of thousands of combustion byproducts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter notes that \u201cTobacco smoke contains around 7,000 identifiable chemical agents, of which at least 158 are known to be toxic or carcinogenic\u201d, and adds that measures of toxicant exposure among people using smoke-free products are \u201cmuch lower compared to those of people who smoke, close to background, or undetectable to people\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors stress: \u201cWe do not claim that these products are \u2018safe\u2019 or \u2018harmless\u2019, just that they are, beyond any reasonable doubt, far less harmful than cigarettes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also highlight the well-known observation by Professor Michael Russell that \u201cPeople smoke for the nicotine but die from the tar\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public health and policy implications<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The experts warn that misrepresenting relative risk has real-world consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGiven that smoking kills around 700,000 European Union citizens annually, this misrepresentation of risks has multiple negative consequences for public health and European Union policymaking,\u201d they write in the covering email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the main letter, they describe the errors as \u201cnon-trivial\u201d, adding that they relate to \u201ca major public health issue: around 90 million EU citizens still smoke (almost one in four adults), and over 700,000 Europeans die prematurely each year from smoking-related disease\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They argue that misleading statements could distort revisions to the Tobacco Excise Directive and the Tobacco Products Directive, undermine Europe\u2019s Beating Cancer Plan and the EU cardiovascular health plan, and damage the functioning of the internal market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter concludes with a direct appeal to Commission leadership. It says: \u201cThe Commission leadership, or other institutions, must move swiftly to correct dangerous, false, and misleading statements made by Commissioner V\u00e1rhelyi and to ensure that policymaking with the potential to save or threaten the lives of millions of EU citizens is grounded in sound science.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It adds: \u201cFundamentally, the European institutions can back the Commissioner\u2019s posture, or they can take their policymaking responsibilities seriously. They cannot do both.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group of 23 European experts in tobacco and nicotine science have written to the President of the European Commission, warning that recent statements on vaping and other smoke-free products are \u201cfalse and misleading\u201d. In an eight-page letter sent on 25 February,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":990005,"featured_media":34893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[257],"tags":[329,186],"slider":[],"class_list":["post-34892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-european-union","tag-nicotine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/990005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34900,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34892\/revisions\/34900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34892"},{"taxonomy":"slider","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/slider?post=34892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}