May 31 will be the 26th World No Tobacco Day, in which FIVAPE, the professional vaping federation independent of the tobacco industry, will fully participate. As President Macron's new five-year term begins, FIVAPE calls on public authorities to overhaul the anti-smoking policy and provides concrete proposals to make vaping a weapon of mass destruction of smoking.
World No Tobacco Day has been around for 25 years, but tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death in France, with 78,000 deaths per year. A symbol of the fight against smoking since 1997, this day marks the desire of each state to support smokers towards a smoke-free life.
For the 2022 edition, FIVAPE is launching a series of proposals likely to greatly and rapidly accelerate the reduction in the number of smokers:
- Integrate vaping into the discourse on prevention and the fight against tobacco as a tool for smoking cessation and risk reduction;
- Train healthcare professionals in the operation and use of the tools of the vaping as nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation;
- Promote dialogue between vaping stakeholders, public authorities, stakeholders active in risk prevention and health agencies;
- Promote the role of stores specializing in the sale of vaping products as players in smoking and nicotine withdrawal, and direct smokers wishing to quit to these support locations.
Jean Moiroud, President of FIVAPE : "Our proposals are focused on vaping, a solution neglected by public anti-smoking policies, even though this cessation tool has existed for over 10 years. It is the one our fellow citizens turn to first. We cannot accept nearly 80,000 deaths in France linked to tobacco when, at the same time, we are able to offer effective and proven cessation tools. There is still a lot of educational work to be done with smokers and we need the public authorities to support our daily commitment in this area."
For nearly 5 years, vaping products have been the most used tools by the French to get out of the deadly addiction that is tobacco. They are also the most effective, since they have allowed more than a million French smokers to quit smoking for good over the past 10 years.
Encouraging figures, but insufficient: France still has more than 15 million smokers. This is why FIVAPE is calling for an overhaul of anti-smoking policies to include vaping products, devices that are now part of the tools that French smokers naturally turn to when they want to quit smoking.