Belgium files request to EU to ban disposable e-cigarettes (puffs)

Following the European Commission's rejection of a proposed national ban on puffs, Belgium has filed a request to ban the sale of these products. A response is expected within six months.

On both sides of Flanders, as in other European countries, the observation is similar: the overwhelming success of disposable electronic cigarettes ("puffs") among young people, particularly adolescents, worries the authorities as much as health professionals and parents. The high nicotine levels observed and the kinetics of the nicotine salts contained in the puffs raise fears of a massive return of nicotine-dependent behavior, which could in particular lead to a resurgence of smoking. The serious environmental consequences of these disposable products are also highlighted.

The bans on sales to minors, in force in most European countries, do not seem sufficient to stem the phenomenon. Very recently, Ireland considered banning the sale of puffs, once a public consultation on the subject has been conducted; the European directive on single-use plastics (SUP), currently being transposed, could provide a framework for enacting this ban. In France, two associations – the Alliance Against Tobacco (ACT) and the National Committee Against Smoking (CNC) – have made a request for a ban on puffs; a petition is already circulating in this direction.

One in four young Belgians consume puffs

In Belgium, the Federal Public Service (FPS) Public Health had included the ban on puffs at the national level in the amendment of the decree regulating electronic cigarettes. This was refused by the European Commission on the grounds that a state can only ban a particular category of products for reasons related to the specific situation of the country concerned. The FPS Public Health has therefore prepared a more reasoned dossier in order to submit a request to this effect to the European Commission, which has six months to provide a response.[1].

Among the arguments in this file, a survey carried out among young people aged 11 to 24 by the Tobacco Prevention Service of the Respiratory Diseases Fund (Fares) indicates that 24 % of the young people questioned have already tried a puff[2]. The numbers in this survey are too small (259 usable questionnaires, including 41 puff consumers) to draw any real conclusions, but it does provide some interesting data. For example, it specifies that young people do not only discover these products on social networks, but also through their presence in the street and in their school. Only half of the young people surveyed use puffs containing nicotine, the others alternate between puffs with and without nicotine. Finally, several reasons for non-consumption by young people are put forward by young people who have not tried them, including the negative image of smoking, the harmfulness and dependency associated with puffs, the ecological impact of these products, the lack of money for other activities, or even the refusal to bow to social pressure and a fashion. All these themes can fuel prevention campaigns aimed at diverting the use of puffs. However, a complete ban on puffs would seem more effective in preventing their spread.

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Keywords: puff, young people, Belgium, ban, European Commission

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