Quitting smoking is the best thing you can do for your health / Extremely important to protect children from passive smoking / Equating tobacco and e-cigarettes is not helpful

On Tuesday, the European Commission presented a draft for Council conclusions on smoke- and aerosol-free environments. The goal is for the Council of Ministers to adopt the recommendations in the coming months and for the member states to then implement them. The aim is to ban smoking in all public buildings, as well as in certain outdoor areas, e.g., at children's playgrounds.

Dr. Peter Liese, the health policy spokesperson for the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP-Christian Democrats) and a physician, stated: “It is important that we adopt measures at all levels to protect people from tobacco smoke. Smoking is particularly dangerous for the smokers themselves. There is nothing better one can do for their health than to quit smoking. Other health protection measures such as exercise and healthy eating are also important, but stopping smoking brings the most significant benefits by far. Protecting other people, especially children, from tobacco is also extremely sensible.”

However, Liese views critically that the Commission's proposal treats e-cigarettes as absolutely equivalent: "E-cigarettes are problematic when they lead people, especially children or teenagers, to consume nicotine. For heavy smokers who otherwise cannot quit, e-cigarettes are an important tool to reduce harm and risks. E-cigarettes do contain nicotine, which is addictive, but they do not contain all the other substances in cigarette smoke that cause damages such as cancer and stroke. And even though not all risks are known yet, even experts from the World Health Organization say that there is no theoretical scenario where e-cigarettes are as harmful. Therefore, I do not think it is effective to equate them with tobacco smoke in the proposal for the Council recommendation. I hope the member states will correct this point,” emphasized Liese.