EU Proposes Ban On Flavoured Vapes
The European Union has proposed a ban on selling flavoured and heated tobacco products, which includes vaping devices.
According to the Financial Post, this proposed ban on flavoured vapes is part of their wider strategy in the fight against cancer.
The European Commission released a statement on their proposed ban claiming that their motion comes as a response to a noticeable rise in the number of vapes being sold across the 27 EU member states.
A study commissioned into the rise of vaping in Europe found that sales of heated tobacco products had risen by as much as 10% in some member states.
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Some EU countries have already imposed their own ban on flavoured vapes, with the Netherlands ban on certain flavours of vaping due to come into effect at the beginning of 2023.
However, not every country looks likely to be in favour of the ban as the Swedish parliament voted against banning some flavoured vapes.
EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides said they wanted to 'make smoking as unattractive as possible' with a particular view to safeguarding younger people.
She said: "By removing flavoured heated tobacco from the market we are taking yet another step towards realising our vision under Europe's Beating Cancer Plan to create a 'Tobacco Free Generation' with less than 5% of the population using tobacco by 2040."
A global review into the health impacts of vaping warned in April that vaping carries health risks of its own and is addictive.
The review also warned that younger generations who were getting into vaping could develop a smoking habit later in life as they get hooked on addictive nicotine.
Vapes had initially been seen as a way to get people to quit smoking by replacing their dependence on cigarettes with something less harmful to health.
Flavoured vapes have already been banned in some parts of the world over worries that they were getting younger generations into unhealthy habits.
Per the BBC, the US banned some flavoured vapes in 2020 after growing concerns that teens were getting addicted to vaping rather than using them to break the addiction to cigarettes.
While menthol and tobacco flavours are still allowed to be sold in the US market, many cartridges of mint and fruit flavoured vapes are no longer able to be sold.
The US recently followed up the ban on flavoured vapes with a blanket ban on all vaping products made by the Juul company.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had spent nearly two years looking into the company and explained that they believed the company had 'played a disproportionate role in the rise in youth vaping'.
However, a US appeals court temporarily blocked the government ban on Juul electronic cigarettes.
Joe Murillo, Juul Labs' Chief Regulatory Officer, said: “Having received the emergency temporary stay, we are now seeking the ability to continuously offer our products to adult smokers throughout our appeal with the court and science - and evidence-based engagement with our regulator.
"We remain confident in our science and evidence and believe that we will be able to demonstrate that our products do in fact meet the statutory standard of being 'appropriate for the protection of the public health'."
Joe Harker