Increases significantly among young people – but a ban on taste is voted down • “Experiments with uncertain outcome”
Despite Sweden’s 18-year limit, the use of e-cigarettes among young people has increased sharply in recent years.
In our neighboring countries there is a ban on sweet flavors on the products, but not in Sweden.
– If you continue to weak for a long time, you can probably develop the same spectrum of diseases as cigarette smokers, says Magnus Lundbäck, cardiologist and associate professor.
Among young people, the use of e-cigarettes, or vapes, has increased significantly between 2021 and 2022-despite several political measures for new nicotine products. At the same time, one of the proposals for a taste ban was voted down in Parliament.
– We expose children and young people to these products without knowing the long -term consequences, says cardiac physician Magnus Lundbäck, associate professor at Karolinska Institutet.
For several years, Lundbäck has been researching the impact of nicotine on the body. According to him, immediate injuries are already visible after a short moment’s weapon – blood vessels become stiffer, the risk of blood clots increases and the airways contract.
At the same time, the market continues to offer colorful packaging and sweet flavors, which he believes attracts young people into a nicotine use.
The doctor: The risks have a lot in common
A survey by the Central Association for Alcohol and Drug Information (CAN) shows that 16 percent of ninth graders and 20 percent of high school students had smoked e-cig in the last 30 days in 2024.
A common argument for smoking e-cigarettes is that it would be less harmful than cigarettes, but Magnus Lundbäck believes that the risks have a lot in common.
– We would see about the same effects after a regular cigarette. If you continue to weigh for a long time, you can probably develop the same spectrum of diseases as cigarette smokers.
Prohibition in neighboring countries – not relevant in Sweden
Several Nordic neighboring countries, including Denmark, Norway and Finland, have imposed prohibitions or restrictions on sweet flavors in e-cigarettes. Sweden should notice this, says Lundbäck, to reduce the attraction of young people and create a common Nordic line.
But according to the Minister of Social Affairs Jakob Forssmed (KD), a taste ban is not currently relevant. Instead, the government wants to impose a ban on the longing for tobacco and nicotine products to minors.
– We cannot have a situation where more and more children and young people are starting to use tobacco and nicotine products. Now we are preparing a long -term ban so that children under 18 will not get hold of them from adults, says Forssmed.