2023-05-02 15:09:00
NEWS IN A NUTSHELL. A gateway to smoking and an ecological scourge, the electronic cigarette is targeted by a request for a ban.
By Leo Rougagnou
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EIt is all the rage among teenagers. The disposable electronic cigarette, the puff – pronounce puff – is the new star among young French people. Single-use pre-filled and pre-charged electronic mini-cigarette, it diffuses sweet aromas like candy. Available in supermarkets or tobacconists, at a price of 9 euros, it presents risks for consumers and is a real scourge for the environment.
Puff is a hazardous waste for biodiversity. The plastic constituent and the lithium battery that compose it lead to significant pollution. “We already find a lot of them on the beaches. There are no precautions for use vis-à-vis the environment or strict instructions following use,” says Diane Beaumenay-Joannet, head of campaigns once morest marine litter at the Surfrider Foundation Europe association, which fight for the protection of the ocean and its users.
The plastic, once fragmented and degraded, is swallowed by animals and the heavy metals from the battery contaminate water and soil. “Depending on the size of the cigarette and where it is thrown, the time for it to deteriorate is different. But we remain on an average of ten years, ”adds Diane Beaumenay-Joannet.
A risk of addiction
The puff is also a real trap for young consumers. Even if the sale of these mini-cigarettes is prohibited to minors, the manufacturers do not hide to carry out aggressive marketing strategies aimed at young audiences on social networks. A paid tactic since the puff is more and more widespread in French colleges and high schools. Some 3% of teenagers have already used it in 2022, according to a survey by the ACT Alliance once morest tobacco.
The French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT) specifies that the use of puff has tripled between 2017 and 2022. A success that can be explained by brightly colored packaging and attractive flavors close to confectionery. “A particularly sneaky trap for children and adolescents”, recalls the National Academy of Medicine in a press release in February 2023.
The product is mainly dosed in nicotine, up to 20 mg/ml, which can develop inflammation of the respiratory tract, strong dependence and a gateway to smoking. “When we know that the ban on sales to minors is not respected, with nearly one in ten young people having already purchased this product, the only effective lever is the outright ban on this disposable electronic cigarette”, alert Loïc Josseran, president of the ACT Alliance once morest tobacco, also a doctor and researcher in public health.
A collective of twenty personalities – doctors, tobacco specialist and defender of the environment – addressed, at the end of April, a column to the newspaper The world for France, like Germany, Belgium or Ireland, to ban puffs. In November 2022, MP Francesca Pasquini (EELV) tabled a bill to this effect. For Diane Beaumenay-Joannet, “we have to raise awareness regarding this new way of smoking, it’s a new challenge”.
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