EU ‘stepping backwards’ as UK and Sweden lead the way to end smoking

BRUSSELS – Europe risks falling behind in the fight against smoking as the UK and Sweden drive down cigarette use through safer alternatives, according to international public health expert Dr Mark Tyndall.

In a powerful endorsement of smoke-free nicotine products, Dr Tyndall said vaping was designed to replace cigarettes by removing the harmful chemicals responsible for smoking-related disease. “It is impossible for vaping to cause lung cancer, strokes and heart attacks,” he said.

Highlighting the speed of change, he added: “2025 was the first year in which e-cigarette consumption in the UK exceeded that of traditional cigarettes,” predicting that “in a few years’ time, 80 per cent of smokers will be using e-cigarettes and 20 per cent will be smoking cigarettes.”

Dr Tyndall, a professor of medicine at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, was clear about the real public health priority.

“Right now, what is killing people is smoking cigarettes,” he said, calling it “ridiculous” that anti-vaping messaging persists while smoking remains widespread.

Citing growing evidence, he said research now demonstrates “the effectiveness of the programme” and that “we are at the point where we can say that vaping is safe”.

“As a doctor, it is an ethical imperative to tell people there is no longer any need to smoke,” he added. “There is something better than smoking, and it won’t kill you.”

Dr Tyndall warned that EU policy risks ignoring these realities in its proposed amendments to the Tobacco Products Directive. “The EU is not taking into account the facts or the impact its decisions have on people,” he said. “It is taking a step backwards on smoking.”

He also called for policy to reflect relative risk: “Given that vaping is 95 per cent safer, I think taxes should be 95 per cent lower.”

Describing Sweden as “a unique example”, he said it could “serve as a model for other countries”.

Dr Tyndall’s comments, made in an interview on the sidelines of the World Nicotine Congress (WNC) in Brussels, reflect a growing consensus among international experts that progress depends on replacing cigarettes, not restricting safer alternatives.

Dr Delon Human, leader of Smoke Free Sweden and a former secretary-general of the World Medical Association, said: “Dr Tyndall is saying what the evidence has shown for years: smoking is the problem. Dr Tyndall’s book – Vaping: behind the Smoke and Fears – also show his deep experience in the role of harm reduction in tobacco control. Essentially, the faster we replace cigarettes with less harmful alternatives, the more lives we save.”

Sweden is now on the brink of becoming smoke-free and has the lowest rates of tobacco-related disease in Europe, while the UK is rapidly reducing smoking through widespread adoption of vaping.

Dr Human concluded: “When people are given access to safer options, they use them. European policymakers should follow that evidence.”

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