It is a subject that divides but which is gaining more and more importance in the world but especially in Europe. Would a ban on vaping flavors have public health benefits? However, everything leads us to believe the opposite! Indeed, banning vaping flavors could send hundreds of thousands of ex-smokers back to tobacco.
THE INCREASINGLY AGGRESSIVE CNCT AGAINST VAPE!
It didn't take long for some vultures to seize on a subject that is essential almost everywhere in Europe. Would a ban on aromas for vaping in France be beneficial? If the National Committee against Smoking (CNCT) is pushing for legislation in this direction, some players in the vape industry such as France Vapotage is concerned about such a drift.
Several voices are raised to demand the banning of vaping flavors, like the National Committee against Smoking. While electronic cigarettes have enabled millions of adult smokers to quit smoking, such a measure would risk pushing them back to tobacco. To meet the challenge of quitting smoking, France Vapotage calls not to be in the wrong fight.
To confuse smoking with vaping is to confuse a problem with a solution.
To quit smoking, smokers have a range of tools at their disposal, including electronic cigarettes. Without tobacco and without combustion (main cause of cancer in tobacco cigarettes), it contains 95% fewer harmful substances than traditional cigarettes. With 10 years of hindsight and after numerous independent scientific studies, it is not associated with any major health risk.
Furthermore, vaping is the most used tool3 and is considered the most effective for quitting smoking. It has already enabled several million smokers to quit smoking, where other available solutions, and in particular nicotine substitutes, which are reimbursed by Social Security, had shown their limits.
This is why there is an urgent need to treat tobacco products and vaping products differently, both in language and in regulations., in order to present electronic cigarettes to smokers as a proven solution. This is the choice made by the United Kingdom which, in less than 10 years, has greatly reduced its smoking prevalence rate, now 3 times lower than that of France (13,3% vs 31,9% ).
Aromas: an asset in quitting smoking.
For a smoker, vaping has several advantages: the diversity of products, the plurality of distribution channels, a price lower than that of tobacco... and the diversity of flavors!
Vaping flavors are indeed a crucial element for permanently quitting smoking. According to the barometer HARRIS Interactive for France Vapotage, 58% of vapers, i.e. more than 1 in 2, could go back to smoking if only the tobacco flavor were available.
According to the Eurobarometer commissioned by the European Commission on the behavior of Europeans in terms of electronic cigarettes, 48% of vapers prefer fruity flavors, followed by 36% of tobacco flavors, 30% of menthol flavors and only 20% of flavors "candy", cocoa or vanilla.
Protect minors: reserve vaping for adult smokers.
France Vapotage shares the concerns expressed about the distribution of products clearly targeting minors. The current regulatory framework, and in particular the ban on sales to minors, must be strictly respected and, if necessary, reinforced and adapted. Furthermore, vaping products should not be the subject of commercial policies and marketing strategies that encourage young people.
On the other hand, the irresponsibility of certain actors should not condemn a product as such, which has proven its usefulness and effectiveness in the fight against smoking.
France Vapotage, which had on its own initiative, developed in 2019 a communication campaign for the protection of minors, wishes with the public authorities and in consultation with all the actors of the sector, to solve this problem in the long term without depriving France of an opportunity history of taking up the challenge of quitting smoking.
To find out more or download the press release from France Vapotage, meet here.
