May 5, 2018 Rendez-vous 7
with Àngeles Muntadas-Prim Lafita
Àngeles is President of ANESVAP, the Spanish Association of Users of Personal Vaporizers.
Thank you Àngeles for accepting our rendez-vous and please accept my apologies for not speaking Spanish so I missed out on this entrevista but I was happy to discover that the content of your site could be easily and well translated into English by right clicking on the text and 'translate to English'.
Àngeles Muntadas-Prim Lafita: It's OK, I speak English. I live in Barcelona and I was a smoker for almost 30 years. On August the 14th of 2012 (I’ll never forget the date), without even thinking about quitting smoking (I smoked about 30 cigarettes a day), I bought an e-cig online just because I wanted to try it, no more no less ... My surprise came when, at the end of the day, I realized that I hadn’t smoked! I spent less than a week smoking 1-2 cigarettes a day and, of course, vaping. I couldn’t believe it because it was being so easy to lower my cigarette consumption so drastically and so quickly... On the seventh day I forgot to smoke that cigarette that I left for a “just in case" situation, and I have never smoked again! Almost six years ago now... Awesome, isn’t it? Just great!
I happily kept on vaping in my ignorance until I heard about some scaremongering news on all the media about a case of lipoid pneumonia (which I’ll talk about later), and the TPD, The EU Tobacco Products Directive, I found out reading on Twitter, on online vaping groups, on Facebook ...
I started retweeting, giving my opinion... I panicked! I searched for associations in Spain, movements against the TPD, and I started being active in social networks, etc... It was during that time that I was contacted by the three associations in Spain, and two weeks later I went with the Governing Boards of the associations plus some other users to a meeting with a political party. Since then, I haven’t stopped advocating for vaping in Spain, although it’s only been two years now since I chair Anesvap. Of course, and despite many "headaches", it's been (and still is) worth it! Nowadays, it’s not just for vaping but for harm reduction which is a human right that must be respected.
Q1. Can you give us the main milestones of the development of vaping and vaping advocacy in Spain? Do you have an estimate of the number of vapers compared to the prevalence of smokers? How many people belong to your association?
Àngeles Muntadas-Prim Lafita: Advocacy in Spain began with the lipoid pneumonia scandal on March the 13th of 2014. Such was the outrage caused among many vapers plus the abusive manipulation of that news and its devastating effects on the number of vapers and stores in Spain (it fell from 800,000 vapers and 3000 stores to 50,000 vapers and 150 stores), that the urge of doing something emerged and the creation of the EFVI Spain Platform was ignited. We worked very hard to get the number of signatures we got, but unfortunately we did not reach the million signatures needed. To keep on the fight, we started up the creation of the three Associations currently active in Spain: ANESVAP (Association of Users), UPEV (Association of Entrepreneurs) and MOVE (Medical Organizations supporting Vaping and Electronic cigarettes, association of health professionals). That was over four years ago and since then we’ve achieved many great things. However, our achievements are still in serious danger of being revoked.
We currently estimate an approximate number of 500,000 vapers in Spain, compared to 12 million smokers. ANESVAP has approximately 10,000 members both full members and collaborators.
Q2. I have read a post by Philippe Poirson in his excellent French speaking blog Vapolitique about the regulations newly adopted (November 17, 2017) by the Spanish government. Can you summarize the present situation?
Àngeles Muntadas-Prim Lafita: Yes, I read Philippe Poirson’s article! Last December, after many efforts and endless and complicated negotiations with politicians and technicians of the Health Ministry, plus several initiatives, especially that regarding the fight against the prohibition of online sales, and the exclusive sale in tobacco shops, we managed to get the Government to approve a practically plain transposition of the TPD. Nowadays online sales are allowed in Spain, as well as vaping in public places (except hospitals, children's centers, public transportation and public administration buildings), specialized vape shops, and there are no special taxes on the products nor fees for notifying products to the European Commission.
On the other hand, cross-border sales are banned and there are more bureaucratic obstacles on being able to market the products than in the rest of the EU countries, in addition to the obliged compliance of the points required by the TPD.
We are very satisfied with what’s been achieved so far, but at the same time we’re deeply worried because we know that within a year or two the Spanish antivape will get the National Anti Smoking Law reopened with the exclusive purpose of equating e-cigarettes with tobacco, or better said, vaping with smoking. They’re looking forward to banning vaping in public places, again banning online sales and sooner or later the fight for establishing special taxes on vaping products will be arriving too.
Q3. I have seen a few of the videos you produced, including the video from the campaign Vaping saves lives on YouTube with English subtitles against the prohibition of sales on line, using a change org petition. Were you able to mobilize many people? Did that have a positive impact? I saw powerful testimonies by vapers; did you get any support from health professionals or are they mostly reluctant to speak up?
Àngeles Muntadas-Prim Lafita: The Campaign we organized to avoid the ban of online sales and the change.org had some great work behind it and we achieved great support plus a very positive impact to the point of being on the TV midday news. It was an absolute success and was decisive to avoid the ban of online sales.
Regarding the support of health professionals, unfortunately in Spain there are no medical associations publicly supporting electronic cigarettes, reason why MOVE was created almost four years ago now. Since then MOVE, in full collaboration with ANESVAP, has turned out to be a determining tool in the development of negotiations with the political and health authorities in Spain, as well as to counteract the media’s misinformation. The international scientific evolution on electronic cigarettes is taking more and more Spanish doctors to approach MOVE and to publicly support vaping, and we really hope such stance will be effective soon, even though many of them are still concerned of losing their jobs if they do so. ANTZ resistance and negativity in Spain remain among the fiercest in the world.
Q4. I just visited the site of the NGO ProVapeo Mexico, and a site announcing an upcoming South American Vape Convention in Colombia (May 9 2018). The regulations about vaping in Latin America seem to vary in each country, including some apparently harsh prohibitons. Is there a network of Spanish speaking countries? Do you keep in touch regularly? On the site of ProVapeo Mexico there is a list of scientific advisors: none of them belongs to a Spanish speaking country. Any explanation about this absence? Could events like e-cig summit or global nicotine forum be organized in Spanish?
Àngeles Muntadas-Prim Lafita: Oh, yes we’re in constant contact with those countries that have active advocacy movements in South America. Specially with Colombia, Mexico, and even with Argentina where things are particularly complicated. Associations like ASOVAPE, ProVapeo Mexico, RDTA, are really doing a great job and of course we try to help them in everything we can, but they still have a long way to run plus the regulatory processes are very complicated. Yes, of course there’s an activist network of Spanish-speaking countries... INNCO! We’re all under INNCO’s umbrella.
Regarding scientific advisors in Pro-Vapeo Mexico, as I said before, unfortunately there are no great Spanish-speaking scientists or doctors who are developing a multidisciplinary laboratory work and exclusively specialized on the scientific and health matters of electronic cigarettes. But we do have a great Doctor in chemistry who’s been (and still is) specifically working on the passive vaping field. However, ProVapeo Mexico has been conceived as a very professional association which has full support of many major international benchmarks experienced on the matter, which is undoubtedly the main option regarding the upcoming regulations. There’s also a close collaboration between MOVE and ProVapeo Mexico. However, MOVE is no medical-scientific association but a platform formed by health professionals who carry out a mission statement as a freedom of speech exercise.
And yes indeed, both ANESVAP and MOVE love the idea of organizing the first scientific event on Tobacco Harm Reduction in Spain, and most probably and very soon there will be some news on the subject.
Q5. What do you consider the main priorities for vaping advocates in Spain and more widely in the Spanish speaking countries?
Àngeles Muntadas-Prim Lafita: The priorities in Spain right now are mainly keeping the law as it is and preserving the achievements we have obtained during the last four years of struggle. We specially want to avoid that medium-term regulations equate consumption in public places, the ban of online sales and the implementation of special taxes. It’s going to be a tough battle though. In the long run, our goal is getting our health authorities to introduce harm reduction policies in tobacco control, following the example of the United Kingdom. Well, I’d say that’s more of a dream rather than a goal...
In other Spanish-speaking countries, the situation is much more complicated. The regulations have to be started from zero, in fact and in most cases, from a huge black market perfectly established. The main objective would be getting these regulations, which will come sooner or later (like it or not), to not destroy the harm reduction potential that electronic cigarettes have for those millions of smokers in these countries. The only way to achieve a good regulation would be if vapers anticipated themselves to the legislative movements by the Government plus having well-established advocacy associations with a voice in their parliaments.
Q6. Is there anything you would like to add?
Àngeles Muntadas-Prim Lafita: I’d like to thank all Harm Reduction advocates around the World for their hard work, their patience and their struggle. And of course, I want to thank you too for the interview. It’s been a pleasure.
Thank you Àngeles for having taken the time to be with us.
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