The European Parliament failed to protect children and young people today, as a coalition of the Conservative European People’s Party and far-right groups blocked critical recommendations to extend public bans against the harms of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. As a result, the Socialists and Democrats Group was forced to vote against the watered-down resolution to preserve the integrity of smoke-free policies.

In opposition to the right wing, the S&Ds wanted to extend public bans to emerging tobacco products, responding to growing evidence from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the severe respiratory and cardiovascular risks posed by second-hand emissions from these devices. The outcome is all the more regrettable given the overwhelming evidence that children and young people are increasingly targeted by these new products, which are often falsely marketed as less harmful.

Alessandra Moretti, the S&D negotiator on the resolution, said:

“The anti-scientific position of the right wing groups, supported also by the EPP, prevented the Parliament from approving a Resolution that could have protected people’s health from smoke and aerosols, in particular the most vulnerable such as children and pregnant women. 

“The S&D Group will never accept to compromise on people’s health. Today’s vote confirms our commitment for the health of Europeans, against tobacco lobbies, and for a true European Health Union that protects everyone.”

 Tiemo Wölken, S&D coordinator for the environment, public health and food safety committee said:

“It is cynical and scandalous that the EPP does not want to combat the number one cause of cancer and instead falls for the tobacco lobby’s rhetoric that e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products are harmless. They praise the EU’s Beating Cancer Plan, but vote against any measure that would help to implement it. 

“We must especially protect children and young adults and prevent them from starting to smoke again. It is very concerning that the number of young people turning to e-cigarettes is rising and we need to put a stop to this. We had already made significant progress in this area, but the tobacco industry has found a new lever to continue poisoning our children.”