Electronic cigarettes are necessary, says European parliamentarian

Electronic cigarettes are a necessary alternative for those who want to stop smoking traditional cigarettes, said Peter Liese, 58 years old. He is a doctor, with a doctorate in genetics from the University of Bonn, and a member of the European Parliament since 1994 as one of the representatives of Germany. He is from the CDU party (acronym in German for Christian Democracy Union).

Liese defended in an interview on Tuesday (Feb 6, 2024) the approval of a European Union law on the subject to replace the varied rules of each country.

Watch the full interview with Poder360 (12min17s):

Liese states that it is necessary to establish strict rules and increase supervision to prevent electronic cigarettes from being attractive to children: “I think limiting flavors is important. If there are flavors like gum, it's obvious that they are aimed at children, because they are the ones who are interested in gum.”.

Vaporizers with flavorings and nicotine are one of the types of electronic cigarettes. Another type is heated tobacco capsules that release the flavor of the product for inhalation. In both cases there is no smoke production, because there is no burning.

In Brazil, electronic cigarettes have been banned since 2009 by the Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency), which continues to analyze the topic. There is an open public consultation on electronic cigarettes until Friday (Feb 9). Anyone can make contributions. The form can be accessed here.

EUROPEAN LEGISLATION

Some of the e-cigarette makers advocate stricter rules on flavors. Liese said it was necessary to establish limitations in a unified way across Europe. Without that, she said, consumers will look for more affordable products in other countries.

“We need European legislation because many people live on borders. This is the case of the region that I represent, very close to the border with the Netherlands. When something is available in the Netherlands, people simply cross the border. Sometimes you can do this by walking”, he stated. He said that the matter is being discussed in the European Parliament, but there is no estimated date for approval.

LIMITATION OF FLAVORS

Liese spoke about limiting flavors, but without discouraging the use of electronic cigarettes by people who use traditional cigarettes and want to stop smoking. “We can't be too restrictive. I tried to convince my wife to stop smoking, without success. It's really painful for me to say this as a doctor and a politician who seeks to work in public health. She was able to stop smoking for a while because I gave her mango-flavored electronic cigarettes“, he said.

The parliamentarian stated that electronic cigarettes are a necessary tool to eliminate smoking. “Smoking tobacco is the most dangerous thing to do to your health. Therefore, quitting smoking is the best thing you can do. Even better than playing sports. Avoiding drinking excessive alcohol is also important. But nothing is better than quitting smoking and nothing is more dangerous than smoking,” said Liese.

NICOTINE

Doctors point out the health risks of nicotine. Liese said the fact that vaporizers use nicotine is undesirable, but said it allows them to replace traditional cigarettes. “Nicotine is a problem because it is addictive. The ideal would be to not have nicotine in your body. On the other hand, the effects of smoking, such as cancer and heart disease, are all related to other parts of cigarettes. The knowledge we have today shows that this is not related to electronic cigarettes and is something that should be clear in all forms of warning and communication. The best thing is to stop smoking and not use any type of nicotine, but the 2nd best option is to look for electronic cigarettes”, declared the doctor and parliamentarian.

RETAIL AVAILABILITY

For Liese, care must be taken so that the rules for electronic cigarettes do not discourage use by those who need the product. He cited, among proposals that he considers bad, that of restricting the sale of vaporizers to pharmacies.

“We shouldn't make e-cigarettes less accessible to people who smoke a lot, because e-cigarettes are much less dangerous than regular cigarettes. Normal cigarettes can be purchased very easily in stores that sell other products. And, when the big stores are closed, you can find small stores that sell cigarettes day and night, at any time. It shouldn't be any harder to buy e-cigarettes. Of course there are other issues. Electronic cigarettes have not been available on the market for 100 years like traditional cigarettes“, he said.