Open Letter to the ENVI Committee for the Meeting on May 30, 2013

E-Cigarettes: Regulation in the Tobacco Product Directive would be a Disaster for Public Health

Ladies and Gentlemen,

we are confident that you know what the IG-ED is and stands for since May 7, 2013, when we attended the e-cigarette workshop in Brussels representing the consumers. We are compelled to contact you again in terms of the TPD2, this time concerning the multiple amendments influencing the future of the e-cigarette directly or collaterally.

Unfortunately there is no significant evidence - even though we are aware of the fact that there was no parliamentary voting yet - that anyone has the intention to follow or even consider our request that the e-cigarette must not be regulated in the TPD. What we see are further attempts through the backdoor to make the product much less attractive - e. g. by banning e-liquids containing flavours and by prohibiting distance selling (by the way: these requests collide with the opinion of JURI) - which will have almost no influence on tobacco products but will literally kill the e-cigarette. All together there are a lot of amendments strengthening our impression that it is the political will to get rid of the e-cigarette according to the WHO tobacco control which was obviously designed for tobacco products.

We strongly advocate product security and safe use too, but a tobacco directive which is changing to an addiction control directive by assimilating the e-cigarette will not support any safety.

Again, once and for all time: Vaping compares to smoking like a sauna infusion to a room fire. There are many basic rules, allowing to easily regulate vaping, e. g. food regulation, battery directive and the mechanisms of industrial quality management frameworks. Many vapers and vendors provided you with studies and investigations, even with a comprehensive file folder with 630 pages containing more than 60 studies which are in favor of this product and also show that the procedures stipulated by the tobacco directive are extremely immoderate for such a relatively harmless product. In return you are very welcome to develop a mild, proprietary regulation for e-cigarettes with a sense of proportion.

Once again we call on you urgently to enable the former smokers - and also the "future former smokers" - to continue enjoying their much less dangerous alternative to tobacco cigarettes!

You should bear in mind that you are elected representatives of the people - please serve the people, not the rules!

We are not speaking just for ourselves. There are millions of vapers EU-wide who share our point of view. Also be aware of the fact that the vapers will never stop to fight for their rights, if necessary by judicial action.

This open letter will also be published on our website.

Sincerely

Interessengemeinschaft E-Dampfen
www.IG-ED.org

Addendum: Brief Listing of some Arguments

1. Of how many vapour-deads have you heard?
2. The E-Cigarette is THE means of reducing deaths from tobacco smoking. But to do so it must be freely available without restraints. Keyword: *Harm Reduction*
3. The E-Cigarette is many times less dangerous than the tobacco cigarette.
4. There is no proof at all for the addictiveness of stand-alone nicotine (= without tobacco).
5. Nicotine in the used concentrations is not all all dangerous - like a cup of coffee.
6. Banning flavours cannot make sense even from the standpoint of our opponents. Do you really want to force every vaper mixing nicotine fluids with flavours?
7. The E-Cigarette eliminates the risk of fire when falling asleep with a burning cigarette.
8. There is no need to protect adolescents from vaping: there is hardly any young person who vapes - and if this person was smoking before it is still a big health advantage.
9. The often repeated reports of hazardous substances in e-liquids show only very slight impurities like you can find in almost every food too – this is literally nothing compared to tobacco.