“Reducing the percentage of smokers in the European Union from 25% today to 5% in 2040 is one of the objectives contained in the Plan against cancer promoted by the EU Commission.. Quitting smoking altogether is the goal. However, those who do not quit have the right to know if there are better alternatives, knowing the risks and benefits compared to traditional cigarettes. We believe that the electronic cigarette can be a tool of enormous help to public health policies to achieve this goal “. He points this out to Adnkronos Salute Umberto Roccatti, President of Anafe Confindustria – National Association of electronic smoke producers.
“Come Anafe, an association that groups the main producers and distributors of electronic smoking products – says Roccatti – together with the Liaf (Italian anti-smoking league) we have recently launched a petition on Change.org, which I invite everyone to sign, entitled ‘Smoking or Vaping: I have the right to an informed choice‘”.
The reason for the petition, accompanied by the hashtag #smettocomevoglio #hodirittodisapere, explains Roccatti himself: “We have promoted this collection of signatures to ask the Italian Government and, in particular the Ministry of Health, to act as spokesperson in all the competent offices at European level , so that EU health institutions and related scientific committees promote a comparative analysis of the health impact of the electronic cigarette compared to traditional smoking, through an extension and integration of the work of the Scheer Committee (Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and emerging risk) advisory body of the European Commission, with the aim of protecting the right to an informed choice of all citizens and consumers, definitively validating the now countless independent studies that indicate multiple differences between vaping and normal cigarettes and providing an answer to those smokers (today 80% of the total) who are unable or unwilling to quit smoking and for whom current health strategies are ineffective ”.
“Recently – continues Roccatti – the Scheer Committee has given an ambivalent opinion on electronic cigarettes. But above all he gave a monographic opinion by analyzing the electronic cigarette without placing it in relation to burnt tobacco. This is our strong complaint, because the smokers who cannot or do not want to quit smoking use the electronic cigarette, that is the vast majority. Then we think that citizens have the right to know what are the differences in toxicity and risk between traditional tobacco and e-cigarettes”.
In 2021, “with by now numerous independent scientific studies to support – still Roccatti – and with the favorable opinion of many health authorities around the world, we believe it is unacceptable not to consider the advantages of electronic cigarettes in the process of quitting traditional smoking, much less not to analyze their risks and benefits compared to cigarettes. Dozens of international researches, and never refuted, have shown that the use of e-cigs is far less harmful than traditional tobacco. See, for example, Public Health England, which pointed out that vaping would be at least 95% less harmful than traditional smoking. For this reason, we ask the institutions to take a position on this, especially for those smokers who cannot or do not intend to quit smoking ”.
Millions of smokers in the world – according to Ezio Campagna, president of the Italian anti-smoking league – have chosen to switch to vaping as a less harmful solution. “These tools – he concludes – guarantee the smoker a sensory experience similar to that of smoking but without the damage caused by combustion and the presence of aromas is also effective in the cessation process”.