Flavored styles 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 was a well being risk since they’re a straightforward method for youngsters to be drawn into smoking and get hooked on nicotine.
“Disposable e-cigarettes is a new product simply designed to attract new consumers,” he mentioned in an interview.
“E-cigarettes often contain nicotine. Nicotine makes you addicted to nicotine. Nicotine is bad for your health. These are fact,” Vandenbroucke added.
As a result of they’re disposable, the plastic, battery and circuits are a burden on the setting. On prime of that, “they create hazardous waste chemicals still present in what people throw away,” Vandenbroucke mentioned.
The well being minister mentioned he additionally focused the disposable e-cigarettes as a result of reusable ones might be a software to assist individuals give up smoking if they can’t discover one other method.
Australia outlawed the sale of ” vapes” exterior pharmacies earlier this yr in a number of the world’s hardest restrictions on digital cigarettes. Now Belgium is main the EU drive.
“We are the first country in Europe to do so,” Vandenbroucke mentioned.
He desires more durable tobacco measures within the 27-nation bloc.
“We are really calling on the European Commission to come forward now with new initiatives to update, to modernize, the tobacco legislation,” he mentioned.
There may be understanding about Belgium’s resolution, even in some retailers promoting digital cigarettes, and particularly on the environmental concern.
As soon as the cigarette is empty, “the battery is still working. That’s what is terrible, is that you could recharge it, but you have no way of recharging it,” mentioned Steven Pomeranc, proprietor of the Brussels Vapotheque store. “So you can imagine the level of pollution it creates.”
A ban normally means a monetary loss to the business, however Pomeranc mentioned he thinks it won’t damage an excessive amount of.
“We have a lot of alternative solutions which are also very easy to use,” he mentioned. “Like this pod system, which are pre-filled with liquid, which can just be clipped into the rechargeable e-cigarette. So we will simply have a shift of clients towards this new system.”
