The role of the tobacco control movement should be to increase the public's and policy makers' understanding of the health effects of smoking and tobacco use. Instead, data from a new survey by ECigIntelligence reveal that among members of the European Parliament (MEPs), an increasing percentage of policy makers fail to understand that smoking is more hazardous than vaping.
In 2000, a similar survey showed that 68% of MEPs correctly understood that smoking is more hazardous than vaping. However, in 2025, that percentage is down to 60%. The percentage of MEPs who believe that smoking is less harmful than vaping remains at about 8-9%; however, the percentage who believe that smoking and vaping are equally harmful doubled from 12% to 24%.
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These surprising and unfortunate results are no accident. They are the direct result of a concerted misinformation campaign by anti-vaping organizations to mislead the public and policy makers into falsely believing that vaping is essentially just another form of smoking and offers no health advantages.
Ironically, it is the tobacco industry that is actually accurately conveying the relative health risks of vaping compared to smoking.
All I can say is that I never thought this day would come. For decades we have been condemning Big Tobacco for its long-standing campaign of deception and misinformation. Now, it is the mainstream of the tobacco control movement which is waging a campaign of deception while the tobacco companies are the ones being honest in their communications regarding the relative risks of smoking compared to vaping.
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