These disposable electronic cigarettes are popular with teenagers and worry doctors and health authorities. This Wednesday, the Minister of Health said he was “favorable” to the ban on “puffs”. “Yes, I am in favor of banning puffs” because they “bring a young part of our population to smoking”, declared François Braun on France Inter.
“Smoking is a scourge, it’s 75,000 deaths a year, I remind you,” he added. The government intends to “work with parliamentarians” to achieve this ban, which could be included in the next Social Security financing law or in “other laws before the end of the year”, specified François Braun. The banning of “puffs” could be part of the government’s new anti-smoking plan, planned for the period 2023-2028, according to him.
Operation seduction among adolescents
With its childish, sweet or fruity flavors – “marshmallow”, “ice candy”, “choco hazelnut”… – its brightly colored packaging reminiscent of sweets and its low price ranging from 8 to 12 euros for 500 puffs, the puff, which exists under twenty brands, worried because it targets teenagers, while the electronic cigarette is prohibited for minors.
“Increasingly popular on social networks, it has a rather positive and harmless image among young people”, while it can contain up to 20 mg/ml of nicotine, an addictive substance, and can thus “be a door of entry” to cigarettes for adolescents, was alarmed at the end of 2022 Alliance against tobacco, a group of associations which fight against smoking.