FIVAPE is dismayed to note that the MPs have surrendered to the tobacco industry's arguments. Too busy condemning vaping on the basis of non-scientific arguments, they have missed the primary objective of this bill. Puffs will not be banned, they will be replaced by a technical solution that is just as environmentally unfriendly and just as accessible to minors...
BIG TOBACCO AT WORK... WITH NO REGARD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Although confusing, the original version of this bill at least had the virtue of ruling out all single-use vaping devices. By extension to puffs, pre-filled cartridges would have been banned in their current form, forcing tobacco manufacturers to eco-design future versions. In other words, to make them refillable and therefore much more durable (but probably less profitable).
"This positive side-effect was clearly brought to the attention of the rapporteurs by our federation during a preliminary hearing. However, they themselves proposed an amendment following their meeting with representatives of the tobacco industry, a champion of closed systems and acting in defense of its direct interests... Worrying. In the end, puffs will not be banned, but authorized in another form", explains Jean Moiroud, President of Fivape.
PUFF, THE IDEAL CULPRIT... IN DEFIANCE OF SMOKERS
Yet on Monday evening, an enlightened consensus could have emerged. Ecology was, after all, a key issue for all stakeholders. Fivape had made this clear back in February 2023... but more was needed. The enemy was not puff, but vaping, and the session took on the air of an anti-vape indictment. Fivape would like to set the record straight:
- Puffs have been banned from sale to minors since 2016. Their prohibition primarily hurts adult smokers who use them as part of their weaning process.
- Fivape alerted all government departments as early as December 2021 on the subject of puffs, without receiving any response, and called for strict enforcement of the law.
- The gateway effect does not exist. If it did, smoking should have increased among teenagers, but this is the category where it has fallen the most.
- Vape prevents young people from taking up smoking. This is an observed and proven fact, as noted by an independent French scientific study published last October (1). Smokers are the big losers in this bill which, in addition to seeking to deprive them of an additional solution for starting an active weaning process, sees vaping stigmatized on its merits. Let's hope that the Senators, next concerned by this text, will do a better job of sorting things out.
The Fédération Interprofessionnelle de la Vape (FIVAPE) brings together the entire vaping industry in France, from manufacturers to distributors. The federation's 800 members are independent of the tobacco industry, and account for 70% of the sector's French business. FIVAPE's public health work, characterized by its members' fight against smoking, makes it a specialist in harm reduction, and one of France's leading public health players in this field.
(1) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37887674/