Published on
Updated
Reading 1 min.
The Minister of Health François Braun said he was “favorable” to the ban on “puffs”, these disposable electronic cigarettes popular with adolescents, and which worry doctors and health authorities.
The banning of Puff in the government’s next anti-tobacco plan?
“Yes, I am in favor of banning puffs” because they “bring a young part of our population to smoke”said Mr. Braun on France Inter. “Smoking is a scourge, it’s 75,000 deaths a year, I remind you”he added.
The government intendsworking with parliamentarians“to achieve this ban, which could appear in the next Social Security financing law or in “other laws before the end of the year”, specified François Braun.
The banning of “puffs” could be part of the government’s new anti-tobacco plan, planned for the period 2023-2028, according to him.
A response to the group of doctors who demanded an emergency ban
With its childish, sweet or fruity flavors -“marshmallow”, “ice candy”, “choco hazelnut”…- its brightly colored packaging reminiscent of sweets and its low price ranging from 8 to 12 euros for 500 puffs, the puff , which exists under twenty brands, worries because it targets teenagers, while the electronic cigarette is prohibited for minors.
“Increasingly popular on social networks, it has a rather positive and harmless image among young people”, while it can contain up to 20 mg / ml of nicotine, an addictive substance, and can thus “be a gateway” to cigarettes for adolescents, was alarmed at the end of 2022 Alliance against tobacco, group of associations fighting against smoking.
In the newspaper The world April 30, a group of doctors, tobacco specialists and climate defenders published a column for the government calling for an emergency ban on the Puff cigarette. According to the signatories of this forum, vapers present a health hazard.
According to the latest figures published by the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT)the use of these Puffs has tripled between 2017 and 2022. And according to a survey by the ACT-Alliance Against Tobacco quoted by the collective in the forum, more than 13% of adolescents in France have revealed that they have already used it.