Calling all Europeans,
In addition to Bill Godshall's great post from Clive Bates elsewhere, I'd like to share with you this highly encouraging letter received by ECF member thatcheruk from his UK MEP.
In particular, please read the last two paragraphs (in red). This MEP gets it - I have no doubt that other's will too, so do please contact your MEP and make the argument.
In addition to Bill Godshall's great post from Clive Bates elsewhere, I'd like to share with you this highly encouraging letter received by ECF member thatcheruk from his UK MEP.
In particular, please read the last two paragraphs (in red). This MEP gets it - I have no doubt that other's will too, so do please contact your MEP and make the argument.
Dear Constituent,
Thank you for your email setting out your thoughts on a proposal issued by the European Commission to amend current European law concerning the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco and related products.
In responding to you I have been in touch with my Conservative colleague and leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group here in the European Parliament, Martin Callanan MEP, who sits on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee. He has been dealing with the legislation you refer to.
Among the products to be affected by the proposed changes are electronic inhalers, commonly known as personal vaporizers or e-cigarettes, which vaporize a liquid solution containing nicotine into an aerosol mist which is then inhaled to simulate the act of smoking tobacco. The Commission proposes to limit the amount of nicotine in solutions sold for use in electronic cigarettes to four milligrams of nicotine per millilitre, unless the products have been classified as for medicinal use. This would render the solution too weak to be a viable source of nicotine for smokers or ex-smokers, or would require manufacturers to apply for a costly licence to manufacture medicinal products. Mr Callanan has provided the response below which I hope you will find useful.
"You are not alone in contacting me on this issue - many constituents feel similarly strongly. I have examined the arguments and I see the potential e-cigarettes offer as harm-reduction devices to improve human health. I am particularly convinced by the fact that e-cigarettes offer concentrated nicotine to addicts without the 4000 toxins and carcinogens found in tobacco smoke, that use of e-cigarettes removes the risk posed to non-smokers (and especially to children of smokers) by second hand not generally to children or those not yet addicted to nicotine, that traditional nicotine replacement therapies proposed by the NHS and the pharmaceutical industry have had very limited success in helping smokers quit permanently, and that thousands of British e-cigarette users (and millions across the EU and the world) are likely return to smoking if the directive is amended as foreseen and nicotine concentrations are limited to 4mg/ml. I have no doubt that this will lead to a large percentage of such users dying of smoking-related diseases they might otherwise have avoided, with all the personal and societal consequences this would mean. Such arguments have led me to conclude that the proposed changes to limit permitted concentrations of nicotine solution sold in the EU are counter-productive and will do much more harm than good.
Changes to EU tobacco legislation have been expected for some time but were delayed by the recent resignation of the previous European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Affairs, John Dalli. His replacement, Tonio Borg, has expressed a desire to change the law before his mandate expires in June 2014. To prevent the proposed changes concerning e-cigarettes and all the negative consequences that would arise, we must work hard in the year ahead to build solid majorities in both the Parliament and the Council.
As a member of the Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety I will do everything in my power to make the arguments and convince other MEPs of the foolishness of diluting nicotine solution to the point of uselessness.
I would also encourage you to raise awareness among others in the vapourizing community. The internet offers considerable opportunities to draw the attention of a wide audience to the issue and to contact your elected representatives quickly and easily. If you have not already done so I would encourage you to write to your MP and request him to raise the matter in Westminster, and persuade other e-cigarette users to do the same. If we bring to the attention of the public, the political world and the media the strong arguments in favour of e-cigarettes as a harm reduction device and the number of lives which can be saved through their use, we have a very strong chance of winning the argument."
With very best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2013,
Martin Callanan MEP
Conservative Member of the European Parliament for the North East
Leader, European Conservatives and Reformists Group"
Last edited:
