EU Health Commissioner branded the ‘Donald Trump of fake science’
Europe’s Health Commissioner Oliver Várhelyi has come under fresh attack for the “Trumpification of EU health policy” following his latest misleading claims about nicotine, vaping and tobacco harm reduction.
Várhelyi’s new statement, made on World No Tobacco Day, relied on unsupported assertions, ignored the role of safer nicotine products in reducing smoking and used confusing statistics that blurred the distinction between youth and adult consumers.
In response, Peter Beckett, editor of Clearing the Air, accused Várhelyi of promoting a “continuous flow of misinformation”, including claims that nicotine causes cancer, that vaping is ineffective for smoking cessation and that e-cigarettes are as harmful as cigarettes.
“Like the Trump administration, facts don’t really matter in advancing a political agenda,” Beckett said.
He said Várhelyi “has become the bumbling Donald Trump figure of this European Commission, with no healthcare qualifications and no respect from his team that has given up bothering to fact-check and correct his embarrassing policies and misleading statements”.
The latest criticism follows a series of similar controversies. Last month, Várhelyi told the European Parliament that vapes and nicotine pouches could create the same health risks as cigarettes.
Earlier this year, 23 leading European scientists wrote to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warning that Várhelyi’s statements about smoke-free nicotine products were “false and misleading” and contradicted established scientific evidence.
Dr Delon Human, leader of Smoke Free Sweden, says Várhelyi’s “anti-vax level of science denial” is creating mounting frustration among scientists and public health experts.
“When policymakers repeatedly ignore evidence, public trust suffers,” he said. “Ideology should never replace science when it comes to public health.”
Dr Human, a former secretary-general of the World Medical Association, warned that the stakes could not be higher as the European Commission prepares the most significant overhaul of EU tobacco and nicotine legislation in more than a decade.
“The danger is that these misconceptions are being embedded into law,” he said. “If the revised Tobacco Products Directive treats smoke-free alternatives as if they are no different from cigarettes, Europe risks making it harder, more expensive and less attractive for millions of smokers to switch. That would be a historic public health failure.
“Sweden has achieved record-low smoking rates by embracing safer alternatives, yet some policymakers continue to dismiss the very products helping smokers quit cigarettes. European smokers deserve accurate information, evidence-based policies and access to less harmful alternatives that can help save lives.”