BVTE Comments on German Vape Pen Flavors Ban

The Bundesverband der Tabakwirtschaft und neuartiger Erzeugnisse (BVTE) rejects a ban proposal calling for ban on sweet and fruity vape flavors in vape pens.

It is the German Federal Government’s Addiction and Drugs Commissioner who originally calling for this, aiming to protect young people.

According to BVTE, the ingredients of vape pens, e-liquids and vape flavors should only be regulated if they are expected to be more harmful.

Jan Mücke – General Manager of the BVTE comment about the vape pen flavor ban

Jan Mücke, General Manager of the BVTE comment about this on Wednesday (May 31) in Berlin. He said, “Mr. Blienert’s proposal is pure activism, vape pens are not entry-level products and vape flavors are not a driving factor of youth using nicotine.”

The proposal about vape flavors ban will only restrict the adult vape users. And it may cannot strength protecting the youth.

There is a data that can show to us. The proportion of regular vapers among young people and in all age groups is stagnating at the low level of previous years. Currently, the estimate rate is about 1.3%.

Although there are various kinds of vape flavors in the market, their prevalence is still very low. Thus, the BVTE believes that it is not need a more strictly regulation.

The tobacco control regulations give us a horror scenarios. According to these regulations, young people are deliberately leading to flavored vapes.

However, the assumption that certain vape flavors are particularly attractive to children and young people is not correct. The vape flavor taste preferences of adults and young people are normally the same.

According to a study by the Dutch government research institute RIVM, sweet and fruity flavors are preferred by all age groups. In addition, regardless of age, the smokers and non-smokers are all think that the vape flavor is not appealing.

Actually, the variety of vape flavors is an important motivating factor for adult smokers to use vape pens permanently. Currently, almost half of the vapers in Germany completely give up tobacco cigarettes.

BVTE: “We support the protection of minors”

Jan Mücke emphasizes that the BVTE supports a strong protection of minors. In addition, he also calls for the consistent enforcement of the existing sales bans and age controls in retail. Therefore, protection of minors must not become a pretext for only allowing the sale of unattractive goods to adults. This would seriously jeopardize the potential of vape pen and flavored vape products for smoking prevention.