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Date Published: 14/11/2023

Spain bans flavoured e-cigarettes

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Certain brands of vapes will be prohibited in Spain due to the health risk

A decision was made by Minister of Health José Miñones earlier this week to ban flavoured tobacco in Spain. This law affects heated tobacco and will impact several brands of electronic cigarettes, or vapes, currently available on the market.

In Spain, the best-selling product that will soon be banned is made by IQOS.

Flavoured heated vapes are specifically designed to feel more like a conventional cigarette and their use has exploded across the EU in recent years, prompting the European Commission to force their removal from the market. Sales of this particular type of e-cigarette have increased by more than 10% in five member states and exceed the total purchases of tobacco-related products in the EU by 2.5%.

For the ban to come into effect, it must be approved by the Council of Ministers, which will take some time. In the meantime, manufacturers will have to put a health warning on the packaging of all heated tobacco-containing e-cigarettes that have a flavour or aroma.

The move has naturally been celebrated by anti-smoking groups but many believe the government needs to take a harder line on tobacco and tobacco-related products.

According to Francisco Pascual of the CNPT, which brings together dozens of Spanish organisations that support the prevention of smoking, this ban “is not enough because there are other types of vapers and inventions that the industry has been generating through the flavours and flavourings, which mask a reality and which also contain products with toxicity, which favour the transition to traditional tobacco.”

Although the Spanish Government approved the Draft Bill of the Tobacco Market Law in May last year which means e-cigarettes can only be sold in tobacconists, there is still much work to be done. When the legislation is eventually tightened, it will involve upping taxes on vapes and expanding the areas where smoking them is prohibited.

Mr Miñones explained that his department is working hard on creating a smoke-free generation in 2030, “with the expansion of smoke-free spaces and a more restrictive regulation on the use of vaping devices by minors.”

In other news: Andalucia considers banning the sale of energy drinks to minors

Image: Freepik

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