No to the proposed bill to extend plain packaging “like tobacco” to vaping

The bill sponsored by Representatives Nicolas Thierry (EELV) and Pierre Cazeneuve (EPR) aims to eliminate the distinction between vaping and smoking. This confusion is unacceptable.

Like it or not, vaping has become public enemy number one for smoking and the tobacco industry. Three million French people have quit smoking with the help of vaping; its positive impact on public health is significant and can be measured by a historic decline in cigarette sales.

The difference between vaping and smoking is crucial. After three years of research, ANSES has just reiterated this point in its scientific report on vaping, published earlier this year. The significant reduction in risks compared to cigarettes and the effectiveness of vaping as a smoking cessation aid are well-established and indisputable, confirming numerous international consensus statements.

The introduction of plain packaging “like that for tobacco” amounts to completely ignoring this reality. Sending smokers the message that smoking and vaping are the same thing is unacceptable and irresponsible.

“Intentionally misleading the public about risk perception is dishonest and immoral, especially when 68,000 French people still die each year from smoking.” – Jean Moiroud, president of FIVAPE.

“Protecting Young People”: A Hypocritical Explanatory Memorandum

The sale of vaping products to minors has been prohibited since 2014. There are no more stringent measures in place to prevent young people—whether smokers or non-smokers—from trying vaping out of curiosity or as a way to quit smoking.

Furthermore, the European CLP Regulation—Common Labelling and Packaging, Article 35—already regulates nicotine-containing vaping products. It clearly stipulates that these products must not feature any elements likely to appeal to children.

“Restrictions designed to prevent young people from being drawn to and accessing vaping have been in place for years, and they are objectively sufficient. But the real gap in the system is the government’s failure to enforce them”— Jean Moiroud.

An anti-smoking initiative that will primarily benefit the tobacco industry

The communication campaigns of recent days and the coordination with the media and lawmakers regarding the announcement of the proposed bill leave no room for doubt. The bill is being driven and supported by anti-tobacco organizations: Contre Feu and CNCT.

However, these are neither health agencies, nor academic societies, nor organizations working directly with smokers on the ground. Due to a lack of knowledge and experience regarding the sociology of vaping, they failed to anticipate the primary and immediate consequence of such an effort to blur the distinction between vaping and smoking: namely, an automatic decline in the appeal of vaping. In other words, fewer smokers will try vaping as a way to quit smoking. Who stands to benefit from this, other than the tobacco industry?

“Around the world, measures aimed at reducing the appeal of vaping consistently achieve their primary goal of shrinking the market, which results in a decline in sales. But they are also invariably accompanied by a resurgence in smoking and the emergence of an uncontrollable black market.” – Jean Moiroud.

Yes to supervision, but not at any cost and not with just anyone

The tobacco industry has no legitimate role in vaping. Moreover, none of the measures in the bill are aimed at curbing its marketing practices in nightclubs and tobacco shops—practices that have been widely criticized, and rightly so, in the media in recent weeks.

Once again, it is the independent sector that would be most affected by the standardization of packaging, rather than the adoption of more flexible measures tailored to reality. Indeed, given the advertising ban, manufacturers have only this space to distinguish their products and highlight their differences from the tobacco industry. Whatever critics who focus on isolated cases (cherry-picking) may say, for the vast majority of manufacturers—particularly French ones—marketing is designed to target adult smokers and maintain their interest in specialized vape shops that devote 100% of their business to vaping. They do not sell candy or toys to attract children. FIVAPE has, in fact, already proposed banning unaccompanied minors from entering specialized stores.

In the same vein, FIVAPE has for years been proposing the creation, under the auspices of the Ministry of Health, of a registry of retailers authorized to sell vaping products. This measure to ensure market safety would prevent the current abuses in non-specialized retail channels that offer no advice and are the primary distributors of “neo-puff” formats, which are completely disconnected from the goal of aiding smoking cessation.

FIVAPE calls on the government and lawmakers to reject the proposed bill and to reopen a constructive dialogue with the independent sector and stakeholders open to harm reduction, particularly healthcare professionals on the ground.