WORLD NO VAPING ... SORRY TOBACCO DAY 2025

May 22, 2025
Sweetch
World news
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INTRODUCTION

Since its beginnings in 1987, World No Tobacco Day, organised every May 31st by the World Health Organisation (WHO), has raised awareness among millions of people of tobacco's harmful effects. Each year, a theme is picked to highlight a particular aspect of the fight against smoking. For years, this day has played a crucial role in reducing the number of smokers and implementing effective public health policies.

But in recent years, a shift has taken place: despite being acknowledged as 95% less harmful than traditional smoking, vaping is increasingly being targeted. Despite scientific studies proving its effectiveness in helping people to stop smoking, the WHO seems to want to treat cigarettes and nicotine alternatives in the same way. This confusion has far-reaching consequences for millions of adult smokers looking for a way to quit.

2025 THEME: "UNMASKING THE APPEAL"

For 2025, the WHO has chosen "Unmasking the Appeal: Exposing Industry Tactics on Tobacco and Nicotine Products" as its theme. The stated aim is to expose the marketing strategies used by the tobacco and nicotine industries to make their products ‘attractive’, particularly to young people.

According to the WHO, flavours, attractive designs, colourful packaging and promotional content on social networks are all being used to "trap a new generation of users".

But instead of exclusively targeting the tobacco industry, which is responsible for over 8 million deaths a year, the organisation has decided to target vaping as well. A decision that is baffling in the light of scientific evidence and field experience in smoking cessation.

WHO MISSES THE FIGHT

Among the key proposals of this 2025 campaign:

A ban on flavours

The WHO wants to "make flavours obsolete". Yet several studies show that flavours are a key factor in the success of smoking cessation. Fruity or mentholated flavours help users to detach themselves from the taste of tobacco and make a lasting break with traditional cigarettes.

Regulating product design

Limiting the appearance of vaping devices will not reduce their appeal to young people, but it will make it harder for adult smokers to switch to them. A punitive approach that does public health a disservice.

Plain packaging

Plain packaging may make sense for cigarettes, but there is no basis for applying it to vaping. People who use electronic cigarettes are not looking for glamour, but for an effective alternative to quit smoking.

Ban on advertising and promotions

Banning all communication about vape products is like silencing those involved in cessation, in favour of a status quo that continues to kill.

All nicotine products banned from public places

Comparing a puff of vapour to cigarette smoke is scientifically incorrect. E-cigarette vapour contains no tar, carbon monoxide or combustion. These measurements are not based on objective data.

Support for cessation... but without vaping

The WHO says it wants to support cessation, while rejecting the most effective tool currently available to achieve this. A major contradiction. Millions of former smokers testify every day that vaping has helped them where patches and gum have failed.

Raising taxes

Taxing vape products as heavily as cigarettes is penalising smokers who make the right choice. It could drive them back to tobacco products, which are far more toxic.

These recommendations are not only disconnected from science: they are dangerous.

VAPING SAVES, TOBACCO KILLS

The WHO must not forget the real enemy: cigarettes, which are still in circulation and freely available in most countries. Tobacco is the leading cause of avoidable death in the world.

Meanwhile, big tobacco multinationals continue to prosper. Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco: all have been fined heavily for illegal advertising, manipulating scientific data, marketing to young people and more. Their strategies are well documented: they are betting on confusion and are even trying to take over the vape market so that they can continue to control nicotine... but their approach is based on profits, not public health.

This is the fight the WHO should be fighting. Demand an end to the sale of cigarettes, strengthen bans on tobacco advertising, apply sanctions to the giants who bypass the law. Not attack a risk-reduction tool that saves lives.

CONCLUSION

By demonising e-cigarette, the WHO is clouding the message and preventing millions of smokers from accessing an effective, less harmful alternative. The aim should not be to punish or ban vaping, but to provide an intelligent framework so that it can continue to play its part in the fight against smoking.

The science is clear: vaping is much less dangerous than smoking. Vaping should not be a target, but a public health ally. For World No Tobacco Day 2025, let's call for a debate based on facts, nuance and, above all, the priority: saving lives.

Thank you for reading.

The Sweetch team