Belgium will become the first European Union country in January to ban the sale of vapes over concerns about their use by children and the harm they can cause. The move is part of a crackdown on tobacco in the European country, where government data shows that the majority of smokers are young people. “E-cigarettes are designed to appeal to young people. We see that in recent years, the number of young people who have started vaping is greater than the number of people who have started smoking traditional cigarettes, which is very bad,” the health minister said.
Some say vapes can help people quit smoking regular cigarettes, but health authorities are concerned that their colorful designs and fruity flavors are also appealing to children.
In Belgium, it is illegal to sell vapes to anyone under the age of 18. Teenager Luque de Smet, 17, told Reuters he preferred single-use vapes to refillable ones. “I always buy e-cigarettes and not refillable ones. But I’m planning to stop. I think a lot of teenagers will suffer because of this ban,” the teenager said. In a 2022 World Health Organization survey of 20,000 Belgians aged 11 to 18, 12% said they had used a vape in the past 30 days, more than double the number in 2018. Germany and France are working on similar laws to ban the e-cigarettes. Britain will ban their sale in June.