Last year, the number of young adults who vape decreased. The flavor ban seems to be working within this group, but specialists are particularly concerned about minors. “The dosages are sky-high, and as a child, you don’t realize that.”
Last year, 9 percent of 18 to 25-year-olds indicated that they vape sometimes, according to new figures from the CBS statistics office. A year earlier, that was 13 percent.
“In this group, you do see the effect of the flavor ban, because that ensured that those vapes largely disappeared from the stores,” says lung pathologist Danielle Cohen to NU.nl. This was also evident in earlier research by the RIVM. More than one in five people indicate that they no longer use electronic cigarettes since the ban on vapes with, for example, cola, peach, or melon flavor came into effect.
But that doesn’t mean we can sit back, specialists say. They are particularly concerned about minors, among whom there is NO decrease in vape use.
The flavor ban has no effect on that target group. Minors were not allowed to be in the store before the ban, because they are not allowed to buy vapes anyway. For them, Snapchat is the sales channel, and they can still easily obtain illegal vapes there. With or without flavor.
One vape is about 25 packs of cigarettes
But “the sooner you start smoking or vaping, the more persistent the addiction and the harder it is to get rid of,” says Cohen. Moreover, vaping lowers the threshold to start smoking. “We see that 60 to 70 percent of children who start vaping at a very young age switch to smoking. Ultimately, it’s just about the nicotine.”
The risks of vaping in the short term are obvious, says lung physician Sarah van Oord. She sees, among other things, that children end up in the hospital with a collapsed lung or cough up blood. “But we don’t know what the long-term effect is and what it does, for example, with the risk of cancer.”
The danger of vapes is, among other things, that there is no clear end to it, the specialists say. “The vapes of today have about 15,000 puffs,” Cohen explains. “While a pack of cigarettes has 600 puffs.” For clarification: with one vape, you finish 25 packs of cigarettes.
“The dosages are sky-high, and as a child, you don’t realize that. If you keep vaping, you smoke dozens of packs of cigarettes a week.” That makes the vape extra addictive, Van Oord adds. “And that is of course the goal of producers: to prepare this target group to eventually buy cigarettes as well.”
‘More government measures needed’
In order to create the desired ‘smoke-free generation’, the lung specialists believe that more measures are needed from the government. Think of price increases, stricter supervision of illegal vapes, and addressing social media channels like Snapchat. “The government really has opportunities to address these types of large companies and come up with sanctions if they do not take their responsibility,” says Cohen.
The lung specialists also advocate raising the minimum age at which you can buy tobacco or vapes. Cohen thinks it should be at least 21 years. Van Oord would prefer it “as high as possible”.
And then there is a responsibility for the parents, to which the government can contribute, Van Oord believes. “It is very difficult for many parents to have a conversation with their child without a conflict arising. And if it goes wrong, that can ensure that you no longer talk about it at all.” According to her, it would also contribute if parents help to start that conversation.
Because those adults are needed to protect young people. “Sometimes I ask young adults: ‘Would you drink vape liquid?’ Then they all say: ‘Never, that’s toxic.’ But then they want to vape it.”