The European Commission Faces a New Proposal

The European Commission is expected to be put to the test soon. A few days ago, we reported the proposal from Denmark and other countries to ban flavors for electronic cigarettes. This proposal will be presented in two days at a European Council meeting, bringing together all the Health Ministers of the EU member states. A confidential document has just leaked, highlighting that the variety of tobacco and nicotine-based products has "increased exponentially" in recent years. Moreover, "many of these products are explicitly marketed to attract children and adolescents – for example, with watermelon, strawberry, chewing gum, chocolate flavors, etc."

The Impact of Flavors on Youth

According to this document, these products are marketed "aggressively" to young people, a tactic that "works." This would result in "early nicotine addiction," leading to lifelong nicotine use, "including transitioning to smoking."

Insufficient European Legislation

The signatories of this document believe that current European legislation is insufficient because, in countries where certain products are banned, it remains possible to import them from regions where the legislation allows them. "We need an ambitious European solution if we want to effectively tackle this problem and protect our children and young people from the harmful effects of nicotine and products that can also serve as a gateway to tobacco products," they add.

Proposals to Limit the Use of Nicotine Products

Among the initiatives to be proposed to address these issues are banning flavors in nicotine-based products, limiting the nicotine content in these products, and, "if necessary," their outright ban.

Call for Decisive Action from the European Commission

"We call on the new European Commission to act and quickly present proposals to help us protect our children and young people from the harmful effects of tobacco and nicotine-based products. More broadly, we call on the Commission to initiate a debate on nicotine-based products while allowing it to examine the range of possible regulations, which could enable member states to also ban certain categories of products," concludes the document.

International Support for the Flavor Ban

Among the signatories of this document are several countries, including France, accompanied by Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Ireland, Malta, the Netherlands, Finland, Luxembourg, Slovenia, and Poland.

Growing Pressure on the European Commission

As Jean Moiroud, President of FIVAPE, reminded us, the Council has no decision-making power, but it could put pressure on the European Commission for these ideas to be debated or even adopted.

A First Step Towards a General Ban

France, along with its allies, has thus laid the first stone for a potential ban on flavors throughout Europe.