The EU Situation
E-cigarette use in Europe
Every country in Europe has e-cigarette owners. The EC countries, candidate countries, and those countries not in the EU political bloc but geographically in Europe, all have electronic cigarette users now, and in some cases the numbers are substantial (Q2 2011).
It is thought that no country has use as widespread as the UK, but there are substantial numbers in the northern European countries such as France, Germany, Holland and Denmark. Holland probably has the most committed users anywhere in Europe as they have an e-cigarette consumer association and four online forums, in a relatively small country.
Political situation
The situation in Europe does not look good for e-cigarette users as there are several warning signs. The first and most obvious is that the EU tobacco control movement is obviously 'heavily influenced' by the pharmaceutical industry and has no real interest in saving lives. This is because Snus are banned throughout Europe, despite the two and a half decades of research that show the Swedish oral tobacco to be safe and the best proven alternative to smoking. A Snus user has the same risk as a non-smoker. As a result, Sweden has the lowest male cancer death rate in Europe and the lowest smoking-related mortality rate in the developed world by a wide margin, since many men there use Snus instead of smoking.
Sweden reduced their smoking-related mortality rate by 40%, due to widespread consumer shift to Snus, and away from smoking.
Despite the fact that Snus is proven safe, and despite the fact Snus is proven to reduce the smoking death rate dramatically in a country where it is permitted, Snus is banned in the rest of Europe due to EU regulations. But according to the EU, smoking causes 650,000 deaths per year in Europe. The fastest, most efficient, and certainly the cheapest way to reduce that death rate would be to permit and promote Snus use throughout Europe, since it is proven to work for exactly that purpose.
However, the downside is of course that sales of the expensive and almost useless NRT pharmaceuticals would take a dive - if a safe tobacco product exists that works much better and is cheaper than the drugs (and has far lower risk than drugs like Chantix, of course), then people are less likely to buy the drugs.
As Snus is banned, and as pharmaceuticals are being promoted as some sort of solution, we have to assume that the saving of life is not the real issue here. This is reinforced by the rhetoric of recent EU pronouncements on new tobacco control moves:
"....How [will] we deal with novel smokeless tobacco or nicotine products, with sales over the internet, or with flavours and ingredients that make tobacco attractive to young people?"
This is the same tired old propaganda used by the hardcore anti-smoking groups in the USA, who are well-known for their 'quit-or-die' attitude, and well-known to be funded by the pharmaceutical industry. These people are more than happy to see all smokers die rather than use safer products. The unholy alliance between the pharmaceutical industry, who provide the finance, and the antis, who provide the noise, is in evidence here. The only possible outcome is that things go on exactly as before: hundreds of thousands die, and the only people who benefit are pharmaceutical corporations (and their friends).
The prospects for e-cigarettes
Obviously, not good - the writing is on the wall. Electronic cigarettes are a serious threat to pharma income and therefore the EU agencies will attempt to ban them, as this is what their paymasters demand. It seems as if the 'Snus solution' will be used: if it works, is obviously safe, will undeniably save hundreds of thousands of lives, and is a direct threat to pharma income: then it will be banned.
EU consumer association
The only way to counter this corruption at the highest level within the EU is to form a strong EU central consumer association and demand that the rights of those who have switched to reduced harm tobacco products are respected. In the end, it may be necessary to take this matter to the European Court of Human Rights.
EU News
The EU Press Release of 2011-07-27 on the Tobacco Products Consultation.