The Alliance Against Tobacco (ACT) calls for “immediate ban” “Puff” flavored disposable electronic cigarettes. In a press release published on Tuesday, October 25, the federation of anti-smoking associations explains that this product is “as harmful for the health of our children as for our environment”.
Loïc Josseran, president of the ACT-Alliance against tobacco, doctor and researcher in public health, accuses the manufacturers of not “never intended to make the Puff a weaning tool but a means of transforming our young people into the smokers of tomorrow through this new highly addictive nicotine product.” He estimates that “banning the sale of disposable electronic cigarettes in France is the right decision to take if we do not want to see this pediatric epidemic of nicotine addiction accelerate.”
The Alliance Against Tobacco and the BVA polling institute conducted “for the first time” a survey to understand the perception and use of the “Puff” among young people. Teenagers aged 13 to 16 were interviewed. “This French survey confirms the concerns of our associations”, writes the ACT, which notes that these disposable electronic cigarettes – which arrived on the French market in 2021 – are very popular. 2/3 of teenagers surveyed “have heard of the Puff before and more than 1/3 claim to know exactly what it is”. Already on October 21, Doctor Loïc Josseran, had launched the alert on franceinfo, estimating that manufacturers create in children aged 11-12 “the next generation of smokers”.
According to this survey, more than one in 10 teenagers (13%) “has already used the Puff, i.e. the same proportion of young people who have already smoked a classic or electronic cigarette”. The ACT points out that this proportion increases when the young person has one parent who smokes (20%) or two parents who smoke (29%). In addition, a quarter of the young people questioned consider “how easy it is to get a Puff”. 9% say they have already purchased, despite the ban on sales to minors (against 7% for electronic cigarettes or 6% for conventional cigarettes).
The Alliance against tobacco denounces the marketing around these disposable flavored cigarettes since 81% of young people questioned “consider the Puff as a gimmick”. The majority of teenagers highlight the playful and recreational side of the Puff which allows “to discover original tastes” or because “it’s fun to play with the vapor cloud”.
For ACT, this “popularity is worrying” starting from this observation in particular: “Among teens using Puff, 28% started their nicotine initiation through this product and 17% later switched to another form of nicotine or tobacco product.” The federation of anti-tobacco associations points to a public health issue because “adolescents underestimate the harmfulness of this product composed of nicotine salts”. Gold, “the use of the Puff increases the risk of developing an inflammation of the respiratory tract and impacts the cognitive acquisitions of the youngest”.
The ACT also denounces, “a still undervalued environmental aberration”. She explains that “the Puff is made of plastic and a non-removable lithium battery” and warns against greenwashing, a marketing process that consists of giving an eco-responsible image far removed from reality: “If some manufacturers claim the recyclability of their products (like Wpuff), no verifiable source or independent label confirms it.” The Alliance Against Tobacco regrets “An additional waste that comes on top of the 4,500 billion cigarette butts discarded each year in nature”.