Vaping is not smoking, but...
Announced at the beginning of June, the government has changed the regulations on smoke-free areas. Since July 1, smoking has been banned in schools, parks and beaches.
This does not apply to vape. In this way, the public authorities are enshrining a fundamental principle established over 10 years ago by the Conseil d'Etat(see here): vaping is not smoking.
We didn't have to defend this red line. I made this clear to the journalist who asked me the question during a debate on France Info TV (see replay of 6/29 in the media watch below). The Ministry had neither consulted nor even informed FIVAPE. French vape professionals did not "influence".
Vaping is not smoking: an undeniable fact. It's the compass that should guide a genuine public-interest policy on vaping, one that's calm, reasonable and pragmatic.
On the other hand, when it came to the worrying announcements on flavors and nicotine levels, we went to the mat. I spent the whole month of June meeting after meeting with ministries, government departments and members of parliament. And we're going to have to carry on, without respite, throughout the summer and into the autumn...
Because the news is not good. Flavor restrictions, nicotine limits, plain packaging and taxes are no longer mere declarations, they are very short-term projects.
I also confirmed on France Info TV that FIVAPE is being consulted on these projects. Will we be successful? Will our arguments stand up to pressure from other lobbies? We can't make any promises, but I can assure you that we will present the public authorities with all the ins and outs of the health and economic issues at stake, so that decisions are informed and taken with full knowledge of the facts.
FIVAPE's legitimacy has already been established: our contacts clearly distinguish between independents and the tobacco industry, even when the latter is masked. We use reading grids that enable us to ask who wants what, and why. For example:
Projects | Tobacco industry, vapocigarettiers, or tobacconists | Steam industry independent | Anti-smoking |
Flavor restrictions | FOR | AGAINST Apart from a reinforcement of molecule control (≠ taste) | FOR |
Restriction of nicotine levels | ? | AGAINST | FOR |
Taxes on vaping | FOR | AGAINST | FOR |
Plain packaging, same as tobacco | FOR | AGAINST Apart from better supervision to avoid giving the impression of trying to attract young people | FOR |
Ban on Internet sales | FOR | AGAINST | FOR |
Ambitions | Reducing access and effectiveness of vaping to stem the loss of customers to cigarettes | Help 15 million smokers, in immediate danger of death and serious illness, to quit smoking | Protecting young people on the pretext of a presumed "bridging effect" of vape to tobacco, supposedly creating a new generation of smokers |
The public authorities intend to call on science. We hope it will be complete and sincere on the conclusive role of flavors and nicotine in the effectiveness of vape as a means of quitting smoking.
The same applies to all the available data on young people, particularly the work of French institutions (OFDT, INSERM, SANTÉ PUBLIQUE FRANCE, etc.) which, contrary to popular belief, all confirm the absence of a gateway effect, and even demonstrate a detour effect.
Young people are the age group in which smoking has fallen the most over the past 15 years, i.e. since the arrival of vape. It is therefore absurd and unworthy, given the millions of smokers helped by vape, to accuse vape of creating new smokers! This point is essential, because "protecting young people" has become the sole pretext for regulations that would penalize 4 million vapers and potentially 15 million smokers, instead of simply enforcing the law banning sales to minors.
And there's more nonsense:
- wanting to confine smokers to the "taste of tobacco" when they want to get away from it;
- Taxing a product that helps people stop smoking - a punitive approach that is incomprehensible in a country with over 30% of smokers;
- reinforce the confusion between the poison and the aid solution, with packets that would be anything but "neutral" because they would be identical to cigarettes;
- lower nicotine levels, whereas high doses, at least at the beginning, are essential to avoid withdrawal symptoms, which are the most frequent cause of failure and relapse, and nicotine is not carcinogenic;
- objectively favor the interests of the tobacco industry, whose products kill 75,000 people a year in France, to the detriment of an independent vape industry that has already helped millions of French people stop smoking.
FIVAPE will remind public authorities of the economic and social threats posed by restrictive measures to the 4,000 French companies and 20,000 direct and indirect local jobs concerned.
At the time of the tax debate at the end of 2024, we had already estimated, on the basis of a study commissioned from the XERFI institute, a collapse of the industry with at least 30% bankruptcies and the loss of 5,000 jobs! In other words, a deliberate extermination of vape professionals independent of the tobacco industry, who are objectively the No. 1 players in smoking cessation and who represent 85% of the national market!
As you can see, we're entering a sequence that is crucial to our survival.
Your support is essential: we need to be numerous and strengthen our resources. Join FIVAPE, tell your colleagues and even your suppliers of related services about the union: we've just introduced a new status, that of Dynamic Observer Members (MODs), which enables partners in our industry, whatever their field of activity - label and packaging manufacturers, flavourists, IT service providers, logistics, etc. - to support our actions. - to support our actions. Contact us here for more information.
More mobilized and determined than ever, I wish you a very good summer,
Jean MOIROUD
President of FIVAPE
