Following the French government’s planned flavour ban, a study has raised the alarm for policymakers after vapers across France spoke up.
A recent survey on the possible flavour ban in France has revealed that over 50 percent of the country’s vapers admit they would consider purchasing black market products.
Named ‘Merci la vape’ translated to ‘Thank you Vaping’, the study also found that 25 percent would also consider returning to conventional cigarettes if the ban is implemented or if taxes on products are too high.
Commissioned by four French vaping consumer organisations, it questioned 40,000 individuals across France, with 98 percent of those being e-cigarette users.
Publishing the concerning results for vapers, the study has started to gain support from healthcare bodies and the government.
Aiduce, Sovape, La Vape Du Coeur and Fivape are the four behind the six-month survey, with the group defining it as ‘one of the largest investigations ever carried out over a population of vaping product consumers’.
The study states that banning vaping products could be counterproductive for the public health of France.
Arguing that by pushing vapers to buy black market products with unchecked safety levels, it could also run unnecessary risks for individuals.
The study’s author wrote:
“Condemning former cigarette smokers to tobacco flavour as their only option is just absurd, because it’s precisely the diversity of flavours which facilitates quitting cigarette smoking.
“The making and sale of e-liquids by professionals is the best way to guarantee their control for users’ safety.”
This all comes after Élisabeth Borne, Prime Minister of France, outlined her government’s plans to prohibit the sale of disposable e-cigarettes.
Included in the French government planned 2024 budget, there is also a wider plan to reduce smoking, which Borne said was the cause of 75,000 deaths a year in the country.
Calling them ‘the famous puffs which give bad habits to young people’, Borne stated her concern for fruity flavours being a ‘gateway’ to smoking.
Speaking on French radio station RTL, the Prime Minister said:
“They give bad habits to young people.
We can say that it’s not nicotine, but it gives young people a reflex and a gesture that they get used to. This is how they then move towards smoking and we must stop that.”
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