Puffs: Parliament reaches agreement to ban disposable e-cigarettes

Parliament reached an agreement Thursday to ban “puffs,” those disposable e-cigarettes popular among young people, suggesting an effective ban “at the end of September,” environmental lawmaker Francesca Paschini said.

The transpartisan bill proposed by Francesca Pasquini was unanimously passed by the Senate in early February after being passed by the Assembly in December. The Joint Committee (CMP), which brings together parliamentarians from both houses, easily reached a common text on Thursday. The government immediately announced its decision to notify the European Commission, which has six months to approve the law.

I immediately appeal to the European Commission to confirm France’s decision. The fight against smoking must continue,” Health Minister Catherine Vautrin responded to X.

Francesca Pasquini is optimistic about the Commission’s agreement after it gave the green light to Belgium’s ban on puff pastries earlier this week.

“Scourge of Health”

In its decision, the European Commission “concludes that the proposed ban on the placing on the market of disposable e-cigarettes containing nicotine is justified, necessary and proportionate to the aim of protecting public health.”

In the Senate, Catherine Vautrin condemned the “medical, social and environmental disaster.” “The marketing of these products is to attract young people with these flowers, these fruits and these aromas, these low prices. We see devices coming onto the market that contain the equivalent of 18 packs of cigarettes,” she criticized.

According to a recent survey, 15% of teenagers aged 13 to 16 years have already used such “puffs”, and almost half of them were introduced to nicotine in this way.

The text plans to prohibit the production, sale or free offer of these products with a fine of 100,000 euros.