The bottom line is that the current TPD draft, if approved by the nations of the EU, will allow the continued sale of pharmaceutical products sold as aids to smoking cessation, which have been shown over and over again to be largely ineffective.

FORBES: The EU's New Tobacco Directive: Protecting Cigarette Markets, Killing Smokers

Enlightened public health experts in the region, and elsewhere, had hoped that the new TPD would ease these restrictions, given the clear evidence of its efficacy in reducing the harm of tobacco, while the approved products for helping smokers quit fail over 90 percent of the time.

FORBES: The EU's New Tobacco Directive: Protecting Cigarette Markets, Killing Smokers