ETHRA Addresses Hoekstra Lies
European advocacy umbrella group ETHRA has written to SANT committee members in response to the untruths spoken by Commissioner Hoekstra
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by Dave Cross
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The European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (ETHRA) has prepared a letter, and sent to all members of the SANT Committee, in response to comments made by Commissioner Hoekstra at a meeting on taxation on Thursday 6 Feb. The EU Tax Commissioner wrongly equated vaping with smoking and is pushing for a tax on vapes that could drive ex-smokers back to cigarettes
ETHRA’s letter:
Dear SANT Committee Member,
We write on behalf of the European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (ETHRA). ETHRA is the voice of 27 million European consumers of safer nicotine products (SNPs). We are a consortium of 24 grassroots consumer associations in 17 European countries, supported by experts in tobacco control and nicotine research. We are a voluntary operation with no industry funding or conflicts of interest. Our transparency registration number is 354946837243-73.
We are dismayed at comments made on 6h February during a meeting of the Subcommittee on Tax Matters in the European Parliament. During this meeting, Commissioner Hoekstra gave his opinion that the risks associated with smoking are equal to the risks of using nicotine vapes when he said: “Smoking kills, vaping kills” and later in the same meeting “It [nicotine vaping] kills, it just kills like the ordinary cigarettes”.
The opinion that nicotine vapes are equally as harmful as smoking has no basis in scientific fact. A substantial body of scientific evidence shows the contrary; that non-combustible nicotine products are far safer than the dominant tobacco products (cigarettes) and function as substitutes for them, creating net health gains.
The Commissioner also made reference to vape flavours such as strawberry and banana, and suggested that the purpose of flavours was to ‘seduce’ young people. This statement is also factually incorrect. Vape flavours were developed by consumers and are designed to be an appealing alternative to smoking for the much larger adult market. Nicotine gum and sprays also come in a range of flavours for the same reason. Studies and surveys have shown that flavour restrictions increase smoking among young people and adults, thus causing far more harm than good.
Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan set a goal of achieving a tobacco free Europe by 2040, and to reduce the enormous burden on health from smoking (700,000 deaths per annum). This won’t be achieved by making policy decisions which make low-risk alternatives to cigarettes more expensive, less appealing, and less available. The fastest way to reach this goal is to encourage people who smoke or would take up smoking to use-smoke free alternatives instead.
Regulatory interventions which do limit and restrict vapes can trigger unintended consequences that the regulator may not expect or want, such as switching back to smoking, engaging in illicit trade, or finding risky workarounds. There is considerable experience of these effects in jurisdictions that have tried them, and we hope legislators will take this into account.
The revision of the Tobacco Excise Directive aims to establish a harmonized fiscal framework for all tobacco and new emerging tobacco and nicotine products across the EU single market. Safer nicotine products are taxed differently or not taxed at all in many member states. The optimum EU excise system should align with key Internal Market principles: proportionality, non-discrimination, and a high level of human health protection - implying that tax rates, if any, should reflect underlying health risks and the public health opportunities to reduce the welfare burden of smoking. The European Union should not be designing an excise system that has the effect of protecting the cigarette trade or nurturing the criminal supply of much safer products. The case for a tax on quitting smoking is extremely weak.
We call on the Commission to examine the science around vapes and other low-risk alternatives to smoking and not to rely on hearsay or activist talking points. The rise of vaping and pouches as an alternative to cigarettes is a major win for the Internal Market operating with a high level of health protection. The Commission should be promoting and extending this success, not threatening to obstruct it.
ETHRA is at your disposal should you want to discuss this issue further. It must be remembered that consumers are the ones who will be affected by policy decisions in this area. Please see the attached documents for supporting scientific evidence and our tax proposal.
Planet of the Vapes covered Hoekstra falsely claiming that a vape "kills like ordinary cigarettes" in an article last week: https://www.planetofthevapes.co.uk/news/vaping-news/2025-02-18_eu-commissioner-tells-porkies.html
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
