Subject: A brief comment on proposed amendments to the Tobacco Act - JDM/26-0826
From: "Peter Hajek" <[email-masked]>
To: "Justiits- ja Digiministeerium" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2026 01:35:28 +0300

Tähelepanu! Tegemist on välisvõrgust saabunud kirjaga.
Tundmatu saatja korral palume linke ja faile mitte avada.

Dear Liisa-Ly Pakosta,

I just learned about the proposals to limit flavours and nicotine content
of low-risk nicotine products. I was invited to provide some relevant
information to the Estonian parliamentarians some years ago and so feel
that I should comment on this proposal. For the record, I have no links
with any cigarette or e-cigarette/pouches manufacturers.

My understanding is that the proposals are motivated by the wish to reduce
the use of low-risk nicotine products by adolescents. The impulse to
protect the young is understandable, but as long as cigarettes are on the
market, it makes no sense to cripple the much less risky alternatives.
Cigarettes are more addictive than vapes and pouches. Experimenting with
cigarettes usually results in daily smoking, experimenting with
e-cigarettes or nicotine pouches is usually transitory (see the dramatic
decline in youth vaping in the USA). It is also obviously better if young
nicotine seekers use low-risk products than cigarettes.

More than a quarter of adult Estonians smoke. The key focus of any
relevant regulation should be adult smokers. Helping them to avoid lung
cancer, stroke, heart disease, emphysema and other horrors caused by
smoking should be the priority. They also comprise the large majority of
users of these products.

For those who cannot or do not want to stop using nicotine, switching to
low-risk nicotine products provides the easiest route to avoiding smoking
related disease and death. Adult smokers prefer fruit and sweet flavours
to tobacco flavours and highly dependent smokers need products with
sufficient nicotine content to help them move away from smoking. Making
this switch away from smoking harder by banning flavours and limiting
nicotine content would harm public health and protect cigarette trade and
the profit of tobacco companies.

I hope this email is relevant to your considerations. I would happy to
provide any further details or references.

With best wishes,

Professor Peter Hajek,

Wolfson Institute of Population Health

Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry

Queen Mary University of London

2 Stayner's Road, London E1 4AH

[email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]>

tel. 02078828231 (secretary); 02078828232 (direct line)