Vaping: The real dollars behind fake consumer organisations

"Vaping: The real dollars behind fake consumer organisations" is a newly-published investigation by “Le Monde” and “The Investigative Desk” (Netherlands) that reveals the alliance between the tobacco lobby and the networks of American oil tycoons to prevent regulations on electronic cigarettes.

The authors follow the trail of "the minibus of deceit", an electric minibus of the World Vapers’ Alliance touring around European cities since September 2021, with misleading promo messages on e-cigarettes claiming they can “save 19 million lives” in Europe or calling vaping “95% less harmful than smoking”.

Under the guise of defending individual freedom, fake consumer organisations are promoting e-cigarettes. They are an illusion to the public and decision-makers, aiming to influence regulation of these new products and to hamper tobacco control. They are secretly funded by the tobacco lobby and the networks of American oil billionaires. The stakes are not just financial. This elusive nebula is working to disseminate a radical right-wing ideology, hostile to government intervention, in the heart of Europe: libertarianism.

Read the English article

Read the French article