Flavored kinds of disposable digital cigarette gadgets are on show in a store in Brussels on Dec. 12, 2024, forward of Belgium’s ban on the sale of disposable vapes as of Jan. 1, 2025.
Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP
BRUSSELS — Belgium will ban the sale of disposable digital cigarettes as of Jan. 1 on well being and environmental grounds in a groundbreaking transfer for European Union nations.
Well being minister Frank Vandenbroucke mentioned the cheap e-cigarettes had changed into a well being menace since they’re a simple manner for youngsters to be drawn into smoking and get hooked on nicotine.
“Disposable e-cigarettes is a brand new product merely designed to draw new customers,” he mentioned in an interview.
“E-cigarettes typically include nicotine. Nicotine makes you hooked on nicotine. Nicotine is unhealthy on your well being. These are truth,” Vandenbroucke added.
As a result of they’re disposable, the plastic, battery and circuits are a burden on the surroundings. On prime of that, “they create hazardous waste chemical substances nonetheless current in what individuals throw away,” Vandenbroucke mentioned.
The well being minister mentioned he additionally focused the disposable e-cigarettes as a result of reusable ones could possibly be a software to assist individuals give up smoking if they can not discover one other manner.
Australia outlawed the sale of ” vapes” outdoors pharmacies earlier this 12 months in a few of the world’s hardest restrictions on digital cigarettes. Now Belgium is main the EU drive.
“We’re the primary nation in Europe to take action,” Vandenbroucke mentioned.
He desires harder tobacco measures within the 27-nation bloc.
“We’re actually calling on the European Fee to return ahead now with new initiatives to replace, to modernize, the tobacco laws,” he mentioned.
There may be understanding about Belgium’s determination, even in some retailers promoting digital cigarettes, and particularly on the environmental difficulty.
As soon as the cigarette is empty, “the battery remains to be working. That is what is horrible, is that you might recharge it, however you don’t have any manner of recharging it,” mentioned Steven Pomeranc, proprietor of the Brussels Vapotheque store. “So you possibly can think about the extent of air pollution it creates.”
A ban often means a monetary loss to the trade, however Pomeranc mentioned he thinks it won’t harm an excessive amount of.
“We’ve got a variety of different options that are additionally very simple to make use of,” he mentioned. “Like this pod system, that are pre-filled with liquid, which may simply be clipped into the rechargeable e-cigarette. So we’ll merely have a shift of purchasers in direction of this new system.”
