Article published on Vapingpost - Author: Jérôme Harlay - Translator: The Vape Club
A year after PHE's article in support of the vaping industry and vapers in their country was published, four anti-tobacco advocacy groups have called on the French government to review and strengthen its tobacco control programme, following the UK's successful policies.
The UK government has made it clear that it is pro-vaping with a PHE paper published last year. The aim of the paper was to reinforce the benefits of e-cigarettes (which are 95% safer than smoking) to the public despite the misinformation the media has received from anti-vaping and sceptical organisations.
In the footsteps of PHE
Professor Ann McNeill and Professor Peter Hajek put together what they called “A fair review of the key facts of e-cigarettes”, which is the first part of the report.
This paper highlights the observations in the shift between smoking and vaping and they find the benefits of switching to e-cigarettes for smokers. They not only look at the proportion of adults who reduce their smoking, but also at the proportion of adolescents who do so. Ultimately, e-cigarettes are being used more by both smokers and ex-smokers in the UK.
Based on evidence that vaping is now one of the most popular ways to quit smoking in France and that e-cigarettes have made a major contribution to reducing smoking in the UK, four public health organisations in France have launched a petition calling on the government to review its tobacco control programme.
Notable examples of tobacco control action in the UK:
- Raise cigarette prices
- Re-standardize smoking
- E-cigarettes are certified as an effective smoking cessation method, combined with public information dissemination, recommended by health professionals, available in a variety of nicotine levels, and used in major health centers.
French Aid, Fédération Addiction, RESPADD and SOS Addictions have raised awareness of the UK's tobacco control policy with the government and, in their opinion, it is the most effective and rapid way to control tobacco to date.
French public health organizations have taken action.
Following in the footsteps of the UK, where major public health organisations have endorsed the PHE findings and recommendations, their French counterparts have also invited MPs and senators to review and replicate their tobacco control policy, called the PNRT (Plan National de Réduction du Tabagisme).
In the article, French organizations complain that, since May 2016, tobacco control policies have curbed rather than promoted the use of e-cigarettes in France.
The government is required not to ignore consumer opinions.
They urged the government to consider the example from the UK and to follow suit in France, with the e-liquid standard set by AFNOR. They also asked the government to take into account consumer opinions to demonstrate harm reduction and combine it with existing methods to make smoking cessation more effective. With plain packaging already in place in the country, medical advice, NRTs, and e-cigarettes should also be promoted to all individuals of legal age.
