4 June, 2025
On Tuesday 27 May, 2025, the European Respiratory Society (ERS) partnered with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Spanish Anti-Cancer Association, the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention (ENSP), and the Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) for the World No Tobacco Day 2025 Workshop ‘Unmasking the Industry Tactics: Safeguarding Europe’s Youth through Stronger Policies’, held at the Press Club in Brussels, Belgium.
This event brought together experts and policymakers from across Europe to participate in presentations and panel discussions with a focus on how stronger policies can be developed to safeguard Europe’s youth from tobacco and nicotine products.
To open the event, Frank Vandenbroucke, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health, Belgium, highlighted the urgency of protecting youth from the tobacco industry, “We are sitting on a new ticking bomb. We need to protect our youth and children from the dangers of tobacco and vapes. The vape is a product which is invented by the tobacco industry to get a whole new generation of young people addicted. And that has to stop.”
An event highlight was the Award Recognition Session in which Minister Vandenbroucke was presented with the prestigious WHO World No Tobacco Day Award. Also present at the event were Vincent Karremans, Minister for Youth, Prevention and Sport of the Netherlands, and Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe.
Speaking at the event, Minister Karremans presented the action being taken in the Netherlands to protect youth from the harm caused by nicotine and tobacco products, “We recently launched an ‘action plan against e-cigarettes’ in the Netherlands and my colleague Vandenbroucke and I sent a joint letter together with 10 other Member States to the EU Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare. In the letter we expressed our concern over the delay in the revision of EU tobacco legislation. And we urged the Commission to act swiftly to protect youth from the growing threat of tobacco and nicotine products.”
Dr Kluge emphasised the need for unity throughout Europe to address these issues, “This is not a marginal issue. This is a public health emergency in the making. So, let’s recommit – with urgency and heart – to the mission to save lives and build a future where the next generation is free from tobacco and nicotine addiction. The industry may be powerful, but we are stronger.”
The ERS Tobacco Control Committee (TCC) actively participated in the event, with its Chair, Dr Filippos Filippidis, Imperial College London, UK, moderating a key panel on regulatory approaches in WHO European Region countries aimed at reducing the appeal of nicotine and tobacco products. Additionally, TCC member Dr Daniel Chen, University of Oxford, UK, contributed to the session on the appeal of nicotine and tobacco products.
Dr Chen emphasised the gateway effect of vaping, noting that young people who have never smoked are three times more likely to start using tobacco products after trying e-cigarettes, raising concerns about a new generation of tobacco users. He further called for unified tobacco control efforts across Europe and advocated shifting the focus from quitting smoking to full nicotine abstinence to improve health outcomes.
Steven Baylis, author of the tobacco endgame report produced by ERS under the fellowship programme of the School for Moral Ambition, also gave a presentation on the legal feasibility of a generational sales ban and outlined a pathway for Member States to implement it across the European Union.
Tobacco consumption remains one of the leading causes of preventable illness and premature death in the EU. Learn more about ERS advocacy activities related to tobacco control.