2024-01-10 16:31:13
“Public policies are almost everywhere hostile to vaping. Smokers are losing valuable opportunities. We are fighting the wrong fight », deplores the eminent public health professor Antoine Flahault. Invited to testify this Monday, January 8, 2024 on BFMTV, the former director of the School of Advanced Studies in Public Health (EHESP) did not mince his words. For him, France must quickly change course. “Vaping is one of the best ways to quit cigarettes”he defends.
Vaping is a solution, not an enemy, defends Antoine Flahault
Like many other of these medical colleagues, who continue to call for a real risk reduction policy in France, Professor Antoine Flahault shares the same observation: “We are fighting the wrong battle when we fight vaping”.
A former resident of Paris hospitals, Antoine Flahault is a doctor of medicine and biomathematics. After directing the French School of Advanced Studies in Public Health (EHESP) from 2007 to 2012, since 2014 he has been a professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva and founding director of the Institute of Global Health.
Very active on social networks, he notably advocated for electronic cigarettes on January 1, 2024, through a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter)*.
Going against the grain of the French government’s next anti-tobacco program (PNLT), which rightly worries all defenders of vapingProfessor Flahault’s position apparently did not escape BFMTV.
Guest on the air of BFMTV this Monday January 8, 2024 in the morning, during a first edition dedicated to vaping (1)the doctor therefore took the opportunity to warn once again of the inconsistency of repressive measures against vaping, under the guise of youth protection and the fight against tobacco.
His message: let’s not forget the real enemy. To combat the dangers of smoking, we must take into account all the strategies that help reduce the risk. And vaping is indeed one of them, if not the best according to the latest Cochrane study !
Let’s take an example from good students, pleads the doctor
To understand the importance of a real risk reduction policy via vaping and new alternative products to nicotine, you just need to carefully observe neighboring countries, the former director of EHESP tells us.
In the United Kingdom and New Zealand, such policies promoting vaping have already proven themselves.
In Sweden again, the results are there. Deeply anchored in the country’s culture, non-combustion products such as snus, or more recently nicotine sachets, have enabled it to almost completely eradicate smoked tobacco. Of all the member states, Sweden is the only one to have achieved the objective of 5% smokers or less set by the European Union. This, 17 years in advance and even though the price of a packet of tobacco is the lowest in Scandinavia!
Meanwhile, in France, we persist in following the recommendations of a World Health Organization which we nevertheless know are profoundly anti-vape and to be part of the continuity of countries such as Australia or the United States, the very ones which are seeing their smoking prevalence increases due to making the wrong enemy !
By disapproving these new alternatives with a lot of misinformation, while continuing to exclusively promote nicotine replacement therapies (NRT), France is only shooting itself in the foot.
Let’s not forget that the vape remains the preferred weaning method of the French according to the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP) and that, contrary to what 9 out of 10 French people continue to think, nicotine is in no way harmful to health. If it is indeed addictive, like caffeine, it remains “one of the least dangerous”recalls Professor Flahault during his interview on BFMTV. “Moreover, doctors have been recommending it for a very long time in the form of patches or flavorless gums. Whereas vaping is the same thing, but it’s more pleasant, that’s all”he very rightly points out.
“Adolescents have somehow downgraded cigarettes. And that’s very good news,” says Professor Flahault.
As could be expected, Professor Flahault did not escape the eternal question of the danger of vaping among young people, very popular with the media.
Skillfully taking advantage of the opportunity, the doctor strove to dispassionate the debate. He recalls: the gateway effect theorywhich defines vaping as a formidable gateway to smoking, is a fear, not a fact. Wherever the practice of vaping among young people is studied, researchers instead observe l’exact inverse : and barrier effect (2).
By turning to vaping,“teenagers have somewhere downgraded cigarettes”, they moved away, explains Antoine Flahault on BFMTV. Also, how can we not see this as very good news?
In view of these facts, this public health expert sees the upcoming ban on puffs in France as the perfect example of the combat error that the government is making. “It is still incredible to ban puffs (disposable electronic cigarettes) and to leave cigarettes on the market which we know are much more harmful to health. Furthermore, prohibition has often proven counterproductive in the past.he wrote in a comment on one of his publications of January 1, 2024 on the gateway effect, before recalling it at the microphone of BFMTV this January 8.
Indeed, what can we say about the black market for puffs, which is already growing in the country, even though the measure has not been officially adopted?!
From Dr. Flahault’s intervention on BFMTV, this Monday, January 8, 2024, the French government would therefore have many things to remember. Let’s just hope that his words are not doomed to be simply ignored…
Thanks to him !
To take stock: find the 7 posts by Antoine Flahault on vaping
2/7 – Cigarettes contain nicotine which is very addictive but not very harmful. It’s the burning of tobacco that kills, not the nicotine. When burning, tobacco releases carcinogenic tars and carbon monoxide which are dangerous for the heart and blood vessels. pic.twitter.com/avowUTxRR6
— Antoine FLAHAULT (@FLAHAULT) January 1, 2024
4/7 – The Japanese, under the influence of a powerful lobby from the tobacco industry, have reduced their cigarette consumption by 50% in 7 years, exchanged for heated but non-burning tobacco.
They should soon reap the health benefits of stopping smoking. pic.twitter.com/R1ETZ7MrIa— Antoine FLAHAULT (@FLAHAULT) January 1, 2024
6/7 – It’s time to realize that these alternatives are better for your health than smoking tobacco. Whether vaping or heated tobacco favor the interests of manufacturers or not, they have never shown a danger comparable to cigarettes.
They must be promoted among smokers. pic.twitter.com/bqBK0bfPw6— Antoine FLAHAULT (@FLAHAULT) January 1, 2024
8/7 – Please note: I have no conflict of interest of any kind on any of these topics.
— Antoine FLAHAULT (@FLAHAULT) January 1, 2024
Sources :
(1) “We are fighting the wrong fight”: a doctor deplores the speeches opposed to electronic cigarettes, BFMTV, January 8, 2024 [consulté le 9 janvier 2024]. URL : https://www.bfmtv.com/sante/on-se-trompe-de-combat-un-medecin-deplore-les-discours-opposes-a-la-cigarette-electronique_AV-202401080326.html
(2) See in particular:
– the study by the NIHR, the British National Research Institute for Health and Care (2023): https://www.jesuisvapoteur.org/vapoter-ne-conduit-pas-a-fumer-une-nouvelle-etude-refute-leffet-passerelle/
– the chronological investigation by Cristine D. Delnevo and Andrea C. Villanti in the United States (1991-2022): https://www.jesuisvapoteur.org/effet-passerelle-nexiste-pas-selon-une-etude-americaine/
– the survey by the National Cancer Institute (INCa) and the Institute for Public Health Research (IRESP) in the Loire department, in France (2018-2020): https://www.jesuisvapoteur.org/france-aucun-effet-passerelle-observe-dans-la-loire/
– the systematic study of Pr. Bertrand Dautzenberg et al. (2023): https://www.jesuisvapoteur.org/stop-aux-etudes-mensongeres-sur-leffet-passerelle-des-experts-francais-refutent-23-publications/
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