As Stoptober inspires smokers to quit, Europe faces a choice: support harm reduction and safer alternatives, or risk setbacks.
Each October, the UK’s Stoptober campaign inspires thousands of smokers to take their first serious steps toward quitting. In England, over 5 million adults still smoke. Smoking causes 75,000 deaths every year, making it the leading cause of preventable illness and death. Health experts stress that quitting smoking is one of the most beneficial decisions a person can make for their health, and research shows that those who quit for 28 days are five times more likely to quit permanently.
Although many people still attempt to quit by going “cold turkey,” evidence suggests that success rates improve significantly when using structured quit support. This year’s Stoptober campaign is encouraging smokers to take advantage of the wide range of free resources available to improve their chances of success. These include the NHS Quit Smoking app, the Personal Quit Plan, expert guidance from local stop smoking services, and community support through the Smokefree Facebook group.
Swedens smoke-free success vs. Brussels’ failing strategy
Recent research by Swedish nicotine pouch company KLAR has revealed that nearly three-quarters of smokers and vapers in Britain intend to quit, a striking figure that raises an urgent question: do they have the right tools and support to succeed? Stoptober’s message is clear: with the right tools and support, quitting is possible, and millions have already proven it.
KLAR’s Chief Risk Reduction Officer, Tomas Hammargren, urges the UK to look to Sweden for answers. Sweden is on the cusp of becoming Europe’s first smoke-free nation, not through prohibition but by giving smokers access to safer, lower-risk nicotine alternatives such as snus and nicotine pouches. With the nation’s smoking rate now below 5%, the threshold considered “smoke-free” by public health standards, this model demonstrates how tobacco harm reduction can work in practice. Yet this success is being overlooked at the European level, where recent developments risk undoing progress.
Just days ago, European Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi announced plans to equalise taxes on vaping products and nicotine pouches with those on cigarettes. Speaking at an event in Gastein, Austria, Várhelyi cited rising youth vaping rates as justification, bemoaning the fact that vaping is “not yet perceived as a danger,” while ignoring the overwhelming body of scientific evidence showing that vaping is significantly less harmful than smoking.
The World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA) quickly condemned the Commissioner’s remarks. “Millions have reduced their health risks by switching from smoking to vaping, a scientifically supported fact. The Commission’s plan to equate vape taxes with cigarettes contradicts this reality and will only push people back to smoking,” said WVA director Michael Landl. He highlighted that the ongoing EU tax consultation is a “sham,” noting that Várhelyi appears to have dismissed citizens’ views before the process has even concluded.
Harm reduction or harm Ppromotion?
The timing is troubling. In September, 83 leading public health experts published an open letter warning that such tax plans ignore science and risk reversing decades of progress. They argued for fair, risk-proportionate taxation, pointing to Sweden and the UK as proof that embracing harm reduction works. Despite this, Brussels seems determined to lump all nicotine use into the same basket, regardless of relative risk.
But the citizens are not on the Commission’s side. An AI-powered analysis of submissions to the EU’s recent cardiovascular health consultation found overwhelming support for harm reduction: 76% of respondents who addressed the issue backed integrating reduced-risk products like vapes and pouches into Europe’s strategy. Only 9% opposed harm reduction, and those voices came largely from abstinence-only advocates in the traditional tobacco control camp. The message from citizens, academics, consumer groups, and medical experts was clear: ignoring harm reduction means ignoring science and people’s lived reality.
Public health data could not be clearer. Smoking still kills more than 700,000 Europeans annually, including 67,000 in Poland alone. Countries that lean into harm reduction are seeing real results. By contrast, countries that cling to high-tax, prohibitionist policies are not seeing comparable declines.
The path toward a smoke-free Europe
The lesson is simple. Smokers trying to quit this Stoptober deserve more than slogans. They need access to the full range of lower-risk nicotine alternatives. Evidence shows that pouches, vapes, and other smoke-free products can dramatically reduce disease and death. Raising taxes on them to cigarette levels would deny smokers one of the most effective pathways out of combustible tobacco.
Europe is at a crossroads. It can either follow Sweden’s example—backing science, supporting harm reduction, and trusting citizens to make informed choices—or it can continue down a path of ideology-driven policymaking that risks driving people back to cigarettes. For the millions of Europeans still smoking, the choice couldn’t be more important.