In a study published on Monday, the committee calls on public authorities to ban flavorings other than tobacco for all products containing nicotine. He also pleads for better supervision of the sale of these products at retail.
The National Committee against Smoking (CNCT) calls for a ban on flavorings in all devices that contain nicotine, apart from tobacco. In a study published on Monday February 13 and which franceinfo was able to consult, the committee also calls on the authorities to better regulate the sale of these products.
In its study carried out over three years, over the period 2020-2022, the CNCT points to the extremely rapid evolution of the market, with the permanent appearance of new products, marketed legally or illegally. Tobacco derivatives are multiplying, especially to appeal to young people: heated tobacco products, disposable electronic cigarettes or nicotine sachets.
The addictive and toxic nature of these products is minimized
Carried by the multiplication of aromas, these products insist on their recreational dimension and minimize their addictive and toxic nature, underlines the CNCT. This plays “a central role in the normalization of nicotine”. The argument of financial accessibility is also very present in the communication of the manufacturers, with in particular regular promotional operations of price reductions.
In its study, the CNCT reveals that French legislation is generally not respected in terms of advertising at points of sale for these new products. Strictly supervised, it only authorizes the advertising of vaping products in the form of informative posters, not visible from the outside. For the record, since 2016, advertising of tobacco products has been prohibited, including at points of sale.
The ban on advertising is not respected
Yet in practice, the National Tobacco Control Committee has found a slew of violations, particularly on the heated tobacco product from lead manufacturer Philip Morris. Seven out of ten tobacconists put it forward. And for vaping products, the overall non-compliance with the ban on advertising at points of sale is massive, both on the part of tobacconists and in vaping brands: 95% of points of sale visited for the study thus had illicit advertisements for these products. And 43% of advertisements for vaping products were even visible from outside the store. The CNCT also regrets that manufacturers rely on social networks to promote their products, the tastes of which they decline to infinite in order to attract a younger population.
Faced with this observation, the CNCT calls on the public authorities to put in place a set of measures. It calls for an immediate ban on flavors other than tobacco for all products containing nicotine. The committee pleads for better supervision of the retail sale of these products in order to limit their accessibility. Finally, he would like a thorough review of the regulations for new nicotine products, as well as for nicotine as such.