In order to discourage vaping among young people and achieve a tobacco-free generation by 2040, the Dutch government announced in 2020 that it would only allow tobacco flavors in e-liquids. In the Netherlands, a list of 16 permitted ingredients has been proposed. From 1er October 2023, all vaping products containing an aroma reproducing a flavor other than that of tobacco will be prohibited.
TOBACCO AND THAT'S IT!
On June 20, 2020, just before the announcement of the decision to ban flavors for electronic cigarettes, 28 e-liquids were registered on the Dutch market.
With the new regulations the Netherlands would go from 1981 ingredients available to only 16 authorized. A clear and perfectly assumed solution to stifle a sector that is developing well.
The restrictive list of taste-determining additives in e-cigarettes will be established on the basis of data notified by manufacturers via the European Common Entry Portal System (EU-CEG). This is a database in which manufacturers and importers are legally obliged to provide information on the composition and other properties of the tobacco and related products they market in each European country, in particular the products vaping.
To ensure that only flavor ingredients that taste like tobacco or are present in tobacco and pose no health hazard remain in use, the RIVM established five criteria:
- Flavor must be present in at least 0,5% of liquids on sale with tobacco flavour. Flavors rarely used in tobacco flavored e-liquids are not intended to be essential to the creation of a tobacco flavor, even though they are necessary to the creation of the specific tobacco flavor in which they are used.
- Flavor should be present more frequently in liquids having a tobacco flavor than in other liquids. Such compounds are probably specific to tobacco flavor and not to other flavors.
- The aroma cannot be an extract of vegetable raw materials. The composition of these extracts is not constant and is therefore difficult to determine. This makes it difficult to monitor manufacturers' compliance with regulations on the use of these ingredients.
- The flavor of the substance must resemble that of tobacco or the substance must be present in tobacco. In this step, sweet flavors, other than those of tobacco, were excluded, in order to minimize the appeal to young people. The authors used flavor descriptions as found in the Leffingwell database, data from the EU's Independent Advisory Group (ICG) on Tobacco Consumption, as well as data from the European Commission on characterization of flavors in tobacco products and a comprehensive analysis of tobacco industry documents to assess flavor descriptions and ingredient sources.
Based on these criteria, the researchers established a list of 16 flavors authorized for the manufacture of tobacco flavor e-liquid. They specify all the same that the health effects of these 16 substances are unknown, because no data was available to evaluate them. These substances could be banned under the precautionary principle. After considering the different options, the Dutch government has decided to allow the use of these substances in e-liquids in order to keep this product available to smokers to help them quit smoking.
From 1er October 2023, all vaping products containing an aroma reproducing a flavor other than that of tobacco will be prohibited. New legislation which is accompanied by other laws such as the increase in the price of cigarettes
