“We are facing a pediatric epidemic”alert Wednesday February 23 on franceinfo Professor Loïc Josseran, president of the Alliance against tobacco, about the fashion of “puff”, these disposable electronic mini-cigarettes, which diffuse aromas and are particularly popular with very young people.
franceinfo: Does this phenomenon worry you?
Loic Josseran: This phenomenon is particularly disturbing. We are getting children, very young teenagers, into addiction. 2% nicotine may seem very low, but if you get addicted so quickly, it’s because 600 puffs is the equivalent of two packs of cigarettes in terms of nicotine. It is a gateway to smoking. Moreover, this was recalled by the High Council for Public Health in a report at the beginning of the year: these electronic cigarettes, among non-smokers and especially among children, are gateways to smoking. . It’s written in black and white.
Where do these puffs come from?
It’s quite recent, it was put on the market in 2019 in the United States, it arrived in the course of 2020 in Europe, and it is spreading like wildfire. I am terribly angry with all the manufacturers who take advantage of the credulity of these very young children, under the cover of a fairly friendly atmosphere, of perfumes which are the number 1 priority and what the young teenager is going to look for. We are facing a pediatric epidemic.
Is the marketing aimed at very young consumers?
It’s a very attractive little colored bar, completely ready to use: you take it out of the box, put it in your mouth and go. It’s extremely easy to use, you don’t need to load it, you don’t need to fill it. It is made for total simplicity of access: I am terribly angry with all the merchants who agree to sell without any control, even though it is prohibited for those under 18. The kids get this product without any difficulty: it is sold at tobacconists, in vape shops, in night grocery stores, in supermarkets and on the Internet. When you’re on a social network like TikTok, you’re not there to look for 50-year-old smokers who want to quit, that’s not true, even if the manufacturers say they’re there to help with weaning. We’re here to catch young people. 95% of smokers started using before the age of 18. You have to go get the young people and the young people are on TikTok.
What do you expect from public authorities?
It is absolutely necessary to respect the prohibition of sale to minors. As long as everyone doesn’t care that kids can buy a product that, in the space of a few weeks, will make them addicted, we will not get out of it. It is necessary that there is this responsibility of all the actors of this sale to prohibit this simple access to the product. There are a lot of vape shops on social networks, I think we have the ability to identify the sellers, to be in the sanction. We cannot allow this to happen with impunity.
What advice do you have for parents who would like to have this conversation with their children?
Parents must absolutely explain to children how they get caught, the dangers it represents, the addiction behind it. It’s not candy, even though it tastes like marshmallow. Parents need to realize what it is: it’s not a fun little device, it’s a device that will make their children addicted. What parent wants to expose their child to a product that will ultimately lead to smoking, and which we know will shorten the life of their child between the ages of 20 and 25? Person. You have to realize that children are exposed: sometimes parents do not see. In the middle of a children’s kit, this device looks like a large fluorescent pen. There are even teenagers who shoot at it in class, and who manage to have a kind of nicotine intoxication during the day, so high is the exposure to nicotine during the day.