France: Health Minister “in favor” of a total ban on puffs

According to media reports: a new attack on disposable e-cigarettes is likely to end up being shelved in France.
Are Puffs popular in France? That’s the question that emerged a few days after some 20 doctors, tobacco experts, and other environmental defenders published a column in Le Monde. Its authors describe these small disposable e-cigarettes as “a major risk to biodiversity” and explain that some of them “have been found on beaches as litter”. In addition to their environmentally harmful aspects, they highlight that the number of youth using e-cigarettes has tripled between 2017 and 2022. The numbers are worrisome because these e-cigarettes can contain up to 20 mg/mL of nicotine_, presenting rates “high enough to create strong dependence” and can also “constitute a gateway to smoking”.

“Far from being a smoking cessation tool, disposable vape pose an environmental and public health hazard and their sale needs to be banned as soon as possible,” the signatories explained.

Learn more about the gateway effect

While this is not the first time a ban on Puffs has been called for, this time the government seems to have heard the message. Health Minister François Braun said he supported such a measure when asked at the microphone of the French Inter Milan.
“Yes, I am in favor of banning Puffs because Puffs make the young people in our population smoke,” he said, before saying he was prepared to work with MPs on the issue. No further details are available at this time.

Last October, the French anti-tobacco coalition had already called for a ban on puffs in France. A few weeks later, the Senate voted in favor of a tax of 6 euros per milliliter on these products.

With this new declaration, signed directly by the health minister, disposable e-cigarettes are likely to meet a disastrous fate in France, as they did in Germany last month and even in New Caledonia last year.