Likud MK initiates bill to ban flavored vapes

MK Eli Dallal brings bill to ban flavored e-cigarette liquid. 'Eighty percent of youth who smoke report using flavored products.'

Teen vaping (illustrative)
Teen vaping (illustrative)iStock

MK Eli Dallal (Likud) earlier this week placed on the Knesset table a bill which would ban the sale and marketing of flavored vapes and smoking products.

The bill proposes to amend section 7c of the law regulating advertising and sale of smoking and tobacco products, by adding a section.

The new section would read: "A person will not manufacture, will not market, and will not store for the purpose of marketing, vape liquid which has a clear taste or smell, including the taste or smell of fruit, plants, spices, chocolate, cocoa, vanilla, cloves, cinnamon, anise, coffee, mint, or any taste or smell which is different than the taste or smell of tobacco, and which stems from the addition of a material which has a taste or smell to the liquid."

According to the bill, "A 2019 report from the Health Ministry on smoking in Israel shows that smoking in Israel costs 8,000 people their lives each year, 800 of them due to secondhand smoke. It also shows that 20% of youth smoke, and two-thirds of those who smoke in grades 11-12 began smoking before the age of 15."

"Research from around the globe shows that flavored electronic cigarettes contribute to developing an addiction to smoking, and draw many smokers to use them, especially youth and young adults. According to a study published in 2018 by the US National Institutes of Health, over 80% of youth and young adults report that they use flavored smoking products."

The bill also notes that in 2003, Israel signed the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and ratified the agreement in 2005. In that agreement, the parties committed to banning the use of flavors - used to draw in new smokers - as ingredients in smoking products.

"Over 35 countries around the world ban or limit the use, production, and marketing of flavored smoking products. The list of countries includes, among others, the US, Canada, and the entire European Union. In Israel, although the issue has come up in the past, there has not been any legislation on the matter until today," the bill's explanatory statement concludes.

The bill, which was brought for a preliminary discussion, is now waiting for a date to be heard by the Knesset Committee.

Earlier this year, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of public health services in the Health Ministry, told Kan 11 that the number of vape users between the ages of 12-14 quadrupled in a single year.

The Health Ministry is working on a bill which would ban the sale of disposable vapes, ban the sale of flavored vapes, require graphic warnings on the packages of smoking products, allow the sale of smoking products only in dedicated locations, and ban the sale of smoking products to individuals under the age of 21.

The Health Ministry's stated goal is to lower the number of smokers in Israel from 20% currently to 5% by 2035. However, the proposed bill does not yet include a mechanism for enforcing the matter.

Dr. Alroy-Preis explained that many young people enlist in the IDF non-smokers, and begin smoking in the IDF due to peer pressure, stress, and camaraderie. "Because of this, raising the age for smoking to 21 actually protect these young people," she explained.