People who are against vaping come up with all sorts of crazy schemes. One of the strange ideas we see floated is banning flavoured vapes. It’s already happened in a few EU countries, like Estonia, Finland, Hungary, and Ukraine. Soon, Denmark, Lithuania, and the Netherlands are set to join.
Even in the UK, with our government’s sensible stance on vaping, a flavoured vape ban was considered by policy experts in 2021. The EU is flirting with the idea too. TPD regulations are still active for now in the UK (despite Brexit), so any changes to the framework have the potential for adoption. In short, we must stay vigilant to protect vaping.
Thankfully, there are people out there researching vaping’s effectiveness in helping people quit smoking. One study released in October 2022 examined the link between e-cigarette flavours and successfully quitting smoking.
As it turns out, flavoured vapes’ benefits go beyond just tasting good: they also help people stop smoking.
A recent Oxford Academic study demonstrates why banning flavoured vapes is a bad idea. The researchers looked at data from a US tobacco use survey and established a link between flavoured vapes and quitting smoking.
The study classed “vapers” as anyone who used an e-cigarette more than 20 out of 30 days per month. Then, they asked the vaper which flavours they used.
The categories were:
The researchers looked at how many people successfully quit cigarettes. The findings weren’t entirely unpredictable.
Significantly, later in the study, 17% of those surveyed said they’d return to smoking if flavoured vapes were banned. This is a troubling statistic for anyone who claims they want to reduce smoking by banning flavoured vapes.
The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (GSTHR) survey from 2021 suggests there are around 82 million vapers worldwide. If that statistic holds true, then banning flavoured vapes could see 14 million people return to smoking.
The Netherlands has been trying to ban flavoured vapes for a while. They’ve had two consultations on the matter.
The first time, the public sent a clear message: 98% of people said, “don’t ban flavoured vapes.” But true to the form of government that has less interest in representing people than it does in telling them what to do, they tried again.
In September 2022, the second consultation finished. Again the public pushed back, and again, the government didn’t care to listen. If you didn’t know any better, you’d swear the consultation was just a piece of pageantry before they pushed through a law.
Now, the ban is scheduled to begin in January 2023. Interestingly, the government have not included flavoured tobacco in the ban.
I bring this up because it’s a clear case of an administration making a poor decision against the interest of the people they are meant to represent. Banning flavoured e-cigarettes:
Misguided policies like these are deadly.
Suggestions of banning flavoured e-cigarettes should be seen for what they are: deranged policies that will result in harm, suffering, and death. The people who advance these anti-scientific schemes no doubt think they are helping. After all, no one thinks they’re a villain.
We can’t get complacent in the UK. Other vaping communities have let their rights slip away, in part because their government doesn’t listen. So make sure your voice is heard.