The overwhelming majority of Dutch people do not support a proposed flavour ban, according to a public consultation that concluded on Tuesday.
The inquiry saw the largest ever amount of responses to a public consultation on health matters.
It asked if there was support for a flavour ban similar to those in certain US states such as Massachusetts and New York.
Of the 757 submissions on the official website, 98 percent opposed to the ban.
The consultation was due to end yesterday has now been extended due to ‘popular demand.’
There has been much opposition to the ban from European vaping groups and also tobacco harm reduction advocates such as ETHRA.
Read about the proposed ban here
Michael Landll, director of the World Vaping Alliance (WVA) , said:
“I am delighted to see common sense and logic prevail. 98% of submissions against the flavour ban are a crystal clear message for the government: it is time to scrap this terrible idea and move on.
“Out of respect for citizens and on the basis of scientific evidence, dropping the flavour ban is the only possible way forward. Anything else would be a disgrace.”
Landl added that 3.1% of Dutch adults vape, the majority of whom are motivated by the want to stop smoking.
Almost three-quarters of the submissions to the consultation cited smoking cessation as a reason not to ban flavours, Landl said.
The WVA head said that a flavour ban could put almost 250,000 vapers at the risk of returning to smoking which would be ‘an appauling health outcome with consequences for all of Dutch society.’
He said: “This extension of the consultation shows, on the one hand, that the whole process was flawed from the get-go, and on the other hand that grassroots pressure from vapers can change policies.
“This is encouraging, but the fight isn’t over. We need to keep the pressure up to make sure lawmakers won’t push the ban through at a later stage.”
The inquiry will resume on February 2.
