(Photo: German Association of the Tobacco Industry and Novel Products)
Recent calls to ban e-cigarettes lack a scientific basis, according to the German Association of the Tobacco Industry and Novel Products (BVTE).
In a recent interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Manne Lucha, minister of social affairs, health and integration for Baden-Württemberg, said that e-cigarettes should be treated the same as combustible cigarettes and that flavored vapor products should be banned.
“It is a scientific consensus that the intake of harmful substances when vaping e-cigarettes is much lower than when smoking tobacco. With his ‘post-factual’ statements, the minister is causing consumer uncertainty with counterproductive consequences for health policy,” said BVTE CEO Jan Muecke in a statement.
Muecke cited a 2020 statement by the German Cancer Research Center, which acknowledged that a complete switch from smoking to vaping reduces the consumer’s exposure to harmful substances. He also quoted Public Health England’s finding that e-cigarettes are at least 95 percent less harmful than smoking.
According to the BVTE, e-cigarettes are the most frequently used smoking-cessation tool in Germany, ahead of less effective methods such as medical nicotine replacement products. The wide choice of flavored liquids, meanwhile, is a significant factor for adult smokers to switch to vaping, the organization wrote.
“Instead of fueling fears with false claims and misguided demands for bans, e-cigarettes should finally be promoted in Germany as an opportunity to minimize risks for smokers,” Muecke said.