BREAKING NEWS: The Conference of Presidents of the National Assembly, which met on Wednesday, May 13, decided not to include the proposed law on plain packaging for vaping products on the June agenda. This is a welcome reprieve for independent professionals who had strongly criticized the bill. We remain active and highly vigilant as we look ahead to the start of the new legislative session.
A generation free of tobacco, without a gateway to smoking, and without a new nicotine epidemic
The OFDT has just published an Assessment of Vaping Among Middle and High School Students from 2014 to 2024. It contains a historic finding: youth smoking has plummeted over the past 10 years and is even on the verge of disappearing. The PNLT’s goal of a tobacco-free generation by 2036 has been nearly achieved—a full 10 years ahead of schedule.
Second key point: clearly, the gateway effect from vaping to smoking—which was supposed to create a new generation of young smokers—has not materialized at all.
Finally, the OFDT shows that overall consumption (cigarettes and/or vaping) has been cut in half in just six years, from 2018 to 2024. There is therefore no new nicotine epidemic, especially since nothing in the observatory’s report suggests that all young people who vape use nicotine.
Yet these major public health revelations have been overlooked in public communications and, even more so, in the media. The information that has been most widely reported is that one in two young people (46%) has reportedly tried vaping.
Once again, the sole target of anti-tobacco messaging is vaping. Tobacco is no longer a focus in the fight against smoking. However, despite the good news, the OFDT notes that more than 30% of young people still try cigarettes. And despite the hysteria surrounding vaping, the observatory indicates that there are still more daily smokers (5.5%) among high school students than exclusive vapers (4%).
It is against this backdrop that two members of parliament have introduced a bill to “protect young people” by requiring plain packaging “like tobacco” for vaping products. In other words, to erase any distinction between vaping and smoking. Read the FIVAPE press release below.
In short, the OFDT’s findings show that young people understand the difference between vaping and smoking, but our local officials want to put a stop to it… in the name of “protecting” them.
To avoid any misunderstanding, it goes without saying that vaping professionals do not want non-smokers to vape; that is not their goal. There are 14 million smokers in France, and we prefer to devote all our energy to helping them, to continuing to innovate, to designing high-quality, tested, and safe products, and to creating numerous jobs. And rather than being supported and encouraged, we have faced obstacles and baseless attacks for years, as the OFDT has just made abundantly clear.
Following on from ANSES’s December 2025 advisory on vaping, the findings of the OFDT’s report are likely to prompt a reevaluation of the entire structure of tobacco control efforts in France, particularly with a view to better understanding the issue of vaping.
Stay tuned to FIVAPE—in a few days, we’ll be posting important information that also underscores this need.
Jean MOIROUD
President of FIVAPE
