Flavored types 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
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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 become a well being menace since they’re a straightforward 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 shoppers,” he mentioned in an interview.
“E-cigarettes usually include nicotine. Nicotine makes you hooked on nicotine. Nicotine is dangerous in 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 might be a device to assist individuals stop smoking if they can’t discover one other manner.
Australia outlawed the sale of ” vapes” outdoors pharmacies earlier this yr in among 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 more durable tobacco measures within the 27-nation bloc.
“We’re actually calling on the European Fee to come back ahead now with new initiatives to replace, to modernize, the tobacco laws,” he mentioned.
There’s understanding about Belgium’s determination, even in some outlets promoting digital cigarettes, and particularly on the environmental concern.
As soon as the cigarette is empty, “the battery continues to be working. That is what is horrible, is that you would recharge it, however you haven’t any manner of recharging it,” mentioned Steven Pomeranc, proprietor of the Brussels Vapotheque store. “So you’ll be able to think about the extent of air pollution it creates.”
A ban normally means a monetary loss to the trade, however Pomeranc mentioned he thinks it is not going to damage an excessive amount of.
“We have now a whole lot 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 are going to merely have a shift of purchasers in the direction of this new system.”