Puff Bars with illegal nicotine content on sale in Switzerland

The Swiss Association for the Prevention of Smoking (AT Suisse) has alerted the Swiss federal authorities about the online sale of Puff Bars containing nicotine concentrations well above the ceiling authorized by the regulations. The sale of these products is all the more worrying in Switzerland because no age verification appears to be carried out.

A Swiss site, online since the beginning of 2022, offers Puff Bars, the new vaping devices, whose success among younger generations is causing concern among public health organizations. These devices, produced in large quantities, are also disposable, thus raising an environmental issue, insofar as no recycling solution exists to date, especially for batteries[1].

Nicotine levels three times the limit permitted across Europe

The new Swiss law on tobacco products, like European standards, requires e-cigarettes not to exceed a concentration of 20 mg of nicotine per milliliter of liquid (2%). On its website, the Swiss Association for the Prevention of Smoking indicated that it had identified a website selling Puff Bars with a concentration of up to 60 milligrams, three times above the authorized ceiling, which itself corresponds to a very strong dosage. As a reminder, in the United States, whose regulations on this matter are much more permissive than in Europe, the maximum concentration is set at 50 milligrams per milliliter.

A major public health issue for younger generations

For the association, the sale of these products is a "problematic violation of the law", especially since the concentration rates are imprecise and unclear for consumers. Above all, AT Suisse indicates that it managed to have the samples offered on the site delivered to it without any age verification being put in place: a simple transfer was enough to make the payment and have them delivered to the home. The products, once they arrived, did indeed contain the nicotine concentrations indicated on the site. The accessibility of such products, particularly by minors, poses a public health problem. By their targeting, these new products could facilitate the entry of the younger generations into nicotine addiction.

FT

[1] Swiss Association for the Prevention of Smoking, Switzerland: Disposable electronic cigarettes with illegal nicotine content, 01/03/2022, (accessed 02/03/2022)