EU’s Proposed COP11 Position Threatens Public Health by Ignoring Evidence on Harm Reduction

EU’s Proposed COP11 Position ThreatensPublic Health by Ignoring Evidence on Harm Reduction

Prohibition Does Not Work (PDNW) today warned that the European Union’s leaked draft position for the upcoming WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) COP11, if implemented, would setback public health and undermine progress in reducing smoking rates across Europe and globally.

“By calling for bans on safer nicotine products such as vapes, heated tobacco, and pouches under the guise of protecting youth,’ the EU is ignoring the overwhelming scientific and real-world evidence showing that harm reduction saves lives,” said Tim Andrews, PDNW spokesman. “This approach is nothing less than the prohibition of reduced risk smoking alternatives — a strategy that has failed wherever it has been tried.”

The EU’s draft position falsely frames“harm reduction” as an “industry narrative” and endorses bans on entire productcategories including nicotine pouches and disposable vaping products.

“Every credible independent study has confirmed that non-combustible products are dramatically less harmful than smoking,” Andrews continued. “The EU’s proposal to treat them as equivalent to cigarettes defies both evidence and experience.”

In addition to the public health impact, recent reports published by PDNW demonstrate that prohibitionist policies worsen also fuel black markets, creating a supply of unregulated products,  increasing youth access, and diverting law enforcement resources away from genuine criminal threats.

·      Australia: Despite one of the world’s strictest vape bans, an estimated 1.3million Australians now vape — almost entirely via the illicit market, which has exploded since retail prohibition began. Legal access is restricted to around one sale for every1,700 illicit transactions, and the black market has been linked to more than 250 arson attacks, multiple homicides, and the emergence of organized crime networks controlling vape distribution.

·      Germany: Despite a de facto ban on nicotine pouches it is estimated between 800,000 and 1.4 million Germans now use them — almost entirely through unregulated or illicit channels

·      Mexico: More than 1.5 million Mexicans now rely on the black market for e-cigarettes, supplied by some of the worlds biggest drug cartels

·      Brazil :A full national ban on vaping, in place since 2009, has created a parallel market serving approximately 2.9 million consumers with youth access and product safety unregulated

“These are not abstract warnings —they are real-world case studies of prohibition’s consequences,” said Andrews.“Europe risks importing the same mistakes that have already played outelsewhere with devastating results.”

PDNW called on EU policymakers to basetheir COP11 stance on evidence, not ideology.

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“Sweden has nearly eradicated smoking through legal, regulated harm reduction products like snus,” Andrews said. “If the EU is serious about saving lives, it should be studying Sweden’s success — not criminalizing the very tools that make it possible.”

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