In order to keep young people in particular from smoking, the ban on aromas and flavorings is to be extended to tobacco heaters. On Thursday evening, the Bundestag passed the implementation of a corresponding EU directive without a dissenting vote. However, the Bundesrat still has to agree before the regulation can come into force.
Flavors that spread the taste or smell of fruit and vanilla when smoked are already banned for cigarettes and rolling tobacco. With the extension of the ban to “heated tobacco products”, harmful smoking should become less attractive overall.
“What makes you sick shouldn’t taste like fruit salad or fruit candy,” said the federal government’s drug commissioner, Burkhard Blienert (SPD). Most recently, the proportion of smokers in the total adult population in Germany had risen again to around 33 percent. For 14 to 17 year olds, the rate has almost doubled.