Setback in fight against smoking as European Parliament rejects landmark nicotine ruling

International health experts say Europe’s lawmakers have today prioritised politics over public health by voting against a report that would have formally recognised that different nicotine products carry different levels of health risk.

The European Parliament’s rejection of the report on the revision of EU tobacco taxation rules is a significant setback for efforts to reduce smoking-related disease across the continent.

The report represented one of the first attempts by an EU institution to explicitly acknowledge a basic scientific reality: that combustible cigarettes are by far the most dangerous nicotine product and that smoke-free alternatives expose users to substantially lower levels of toxic chemicals.

Dr Delon Human, leader of Smoke Free Sweden, said: “European lawmakers have chosen ideology over science and politics over public health. 

“The most important element of this report was the recognition that different nicotine products carry different levels of risk. That should not be controversial as it is supported by decades of scientific evidence.

“By voting against the report, lawmakers have missed an opportunity to place harm reduction at the centre of future tobacco and nicotine policy and have thereby put the lives of millions of smokers in jeopardy.”

The report by the European Parliament’s economic and monetary committee (ECON) pointed out that some non-combustible products “may present lower risks than traditional cigarettes and may contribute to reduced consumption of the most harmful products”. It also suggested that “excessively abrupt or rigid adjustments” to the minimum rates of taxation may lead to an increase in illicit trade.

Parliament’s rejection of the report comes as European institutions prepare major revisions to tobacco and nicotine legislation, including the Tobacco Products Directive and Tobacco Excise Directive.

Dr Human, a former secretary-general of the World Medical Association, warned: “If lawmakers refuse to acknowledge that some products are far more dangerous than others, they risk creating regulations that protect cigarettes from competition while making it harder for smokers to switch to safer alternatives.”

Sweden’s risk-proportionate approach to nicotine products has reduced smoking rates to the lowest levels in Europe while recording some of the continent’s lowest rates of smoking-related disease. The decline has been accompanied by widespread use of smoke-free alternatives such as snus, nicotine pouches and vapes.

“Sweden has succeeded because policymakers allowed adult smokers access to safer alternatives,” said Dr Human. “Europe should be learning from that success. Instead, today’s vote sends the opposite message at precisely the moment the continent needs bold, evidence-based action to defeat smoking once and for all.